Official Google Reader Blog: Square is the new round.

Official Google Reader Blog: Square is the new round.

That's right! Google's been busy lately updating not only Gmail (which received new themes just a few weeks ago) but now Google Reader as well!

Want to see what the internet was like ten years ago?

Go to China, where a lot of the internet is censored from the public.

"Are you changing your AdWords campaigns weekly?"

Even if you've found a keyword, or phrase, or landing page, that is working for you... there may be even better options available. How would you know unless you try to find them?

You're not progressing if you aren't trying out new things and taking risks in your business.

Take a risk, jump into the waters of the unknown. You may find treasure out there.

Are you changing your AdWords campaigns weekly?

"You're being marketed to and you didn't even know it."

It's true. From the moment you were born, 'til the moment that you die, you have been and will continue to be marketed to.

When people here the word "marketing" or "marketed" they instantly imagine someone sitting behind a desk with a telephone dialing random numbers in order to sell a product that nobody really wants to be. And if you imagine that scenario when thinking of the word "marketing" then you're right. That situation is marketing; that is somebody trying to get you to buy something.

But what if you're being marketed to and you didn't even know it?

Would you still consider it marketing, or would you consider it to be a dirty trick? The truth is that you ARE being marketed to. 24/7. Every day of your life. There isn't a sandy beach or busy office where you could avoid being marketed to. Because everybody is trying to sell something. Hell, your brain is even trying to sell you something.

Whether it's an idea, a product, or even a feeling, you are always being marketed to.

Those people who dress up with titles of "internet marketer" are just making it easier for you to recognize that they're trying to sell you something. But it should come as no surprise. Right now I'm trying to sell you something. I'm trying to sell you the idea that this post is worth reading, that this blog is worth subscribing to. Right now your brain is trying to sell you something; it's probably trying to sell you the idea that clicking away would be your best option.

And maybe it's right.

"People want to feel like idiots when visiting your website."

You're an idiot if you didn't know this already.

And - sorry to say - you probably didn't know this if you are reading it, right? So you're an idiot. But there is good news for all of you idiots out there: we're all idiots; at least, in some way or another.

That's why we scourer the internet, isn't it? Because we don't know something and we want to learn about it (or find an answer to a problem, or just discover something new). And when I say "We're all idiots" that includes people currently visiting (and people that may potentially visit) your website. They're looking for an answer to a problem or to learn something new.

That's why you're reading this, is it not? You want to learn something new.

Instead of repeating the same garbage that other SEO and internet marketing blogs post day after day, I'm going to post something that (hopefully) is new for you.

Ready? Here it goes: People want to feel like idiots when visiting your website.

It's true. Have you ever visited a website where all of the content was things you already knew about? Did you stay on that website for very long? I'm guessing you clicked away fairly quickly... about 3 seconds in and you were ready to go to another website.

But what about those websites where the content makes you say: "Duh! How come I didn't think of that?" or "Holy cow! I didn't know that!"? My guess is that you stayed on those websites (the ones that made you feel crazy stupid) a lot longer than the websites whose content you already knew everything about.

Making people feel like they have something to learn from your website (other than the fact that they are idiots, like you) will make them stay longer.

If you manage a blog: making people feel like their idiots is a great way to get subscribers; readers will feel like they always have something to learn from you.

So, what is your website teaching people? Are you putting content out that everybody already knows about? Or are you putting content out there that says "Hey, you're an idiot"?

"Chrome can not only benefit Google, but also SEOs and internet marketers."

So, Google Chrome is everywhere now.

From Digg, Sphinn, and Gizmodo, to CNN, The New York Times, and Internet Hunger. When Google releases something new it is certain to make a big splash online. Yesterday I wrote about the impact Chrome will have on SEOs and internet marketers, but today I'd like to touch base on how Chrome can not only benefit Google, but also SEOs and internet marketers. That's right, I said benefit us.

So, how can Chrome help everyone out? Google can use the data (the browsing, clicking, and search habits of users) to make their search engine EVEN BETTER. For SEOs and marketers this information would be easy to look at and use to better target energetic audiences, and for Google... well, such data collection would allow Google to get their search 100% perfect. Can you imagine searching for something and having the very first result ALWAYS be exactly what you were looking for?

Granted, gathering and using such data would have to be a part of their Terms of Service agreement, and that could scare away a lot of potential users. So why not make it a feature, rather than a necessary evil?

If Google had a notification when you booted up Chrome that said something along the lines of: "Hey! We have this great new feature we would like you to try it! It will send us information about what you click on when you search and a few of your browsing habits. The information is securely sent and we will have no way to link the data back to any individual! What do you say, want to try it out and improve your internet experience?"

Would you click on the "ok, do it!" button, or would you click the "hell no!" button?

"How does Google Chrome impact search engine optimizers and marketers?"

Google launched it's own web browser today. Now Matt Cutts just needs to write The Book of Cutts and Google can officially become a religion.

How does Google Chrome impact search engine optimizers and marketers?

It doesn't.

At least, Google Chrome doesn't have any real impact on SEOs and marketers currently. But I suspect - and I'm sure many others in the search and internet marketing industry have as well - that Google will quickly implement some great tools and features for marketers. Good things are ahead.

That's not all to think about. Another important thing to consider with Chrome is that it may (just maybe) be the end of visual Google PR. With the current release of Chrome, Google has decided to NOT include a Google Toolbar. No highlighting feature. No nifty bookmark features. No visible PR.

So what exactly does all of this speculation mean?!

Nothing. It's just speculation.

"Will gaining links to a domain that has no content on it hurt your search ranking?"

You have a brilliant idea and need a website. Despite not having any content ready for the website, you buy the domain anyway. And now you're set. You're ready to go. Getting a design mocked up and coded, marketing the domain and getting links, doing all of your SEO and a bit of SEM and your website will be a huge success.

But you're impatient (like 99% of all of us). You want to start building your website's reputation by getting links immediately. So you market a bit, advertise a bit, trade links a bit, whatever you consider SEO, before you get the website up.

Will gaining links to a domain that has no content on it hurt your search ranking? How does a search engine treat a new domain that has zero content on at one time and then just a few days later have great, quality content on it?

Well, it turns out that linking to a parked or "non-furnished" domain DOES hurt your search engine ranking.

When search engines see a link pointing to a domain, they follow that link. The content that resides at that link is indexed immediately (with a few exceptions), cached, and marked as a new website.

Now, say, a few days later you get your content up and now you're really ready to rock and roll. Only problem is: the search engines are not going to see your new content for a while. In-fact: the search engines figure you're not worth checking and indexing and caching again so soon because you're new to the game. So they keep the old content (if any was there) and leave it at that.

While you wait for your new content to get indexed you are losing valuable search customers. People searching for your content are not going to find it, because you got a little excited and took a false start.

It's like a race in the Olympics, if you jump or step or leap or dive away from that starting line before everybody is ready for you... you're disqualified.

Is SEO just a trend of the times?

No.

You don't need a blog, just knowledge.

I just finished reading an article over at Traffic and Conversion about why a blog can increase traffic to your website.

Upon finishing the article, I laughed.

In the said article, Mark Widawer claims that a blog is “critical to your traffic work.” Critical to gaining traffic? No. Not true. A blog is not critical to gaining traffic to your website.

The reason blogs are so favorable among SEOs is because blogs make it easy to optimize websites. In-fact, blogs come pre-optimized for search engines; and search engines favor blogs because they are always new and often influential.

But you don't NEED a blog. Especially if you have knowledge of XHTML and CSS.

All a blog does is plugs in META tags, and makes it easy to constantly update content on your website. But if you can do that on your own, there's no reason to have a blog at all.

That's right, I said it: YOU DON'T NEED A BLOG!

I would even go so far to say that it would be better NOT to have a blog for your website. Would it be harder to update? Definitely. Do you need to already have knowledge of web programming and SEO if you're not going to use a blog? Absolutely. But do you NEED blog? No.

The reason SEOs promote blogs is because blogs make SEO easy.

That's it.

SEO for dummies. Why networking is greater than content.

Have you ever heard the term: "Content is king"? When it comes to optimizing your website for search engines, making sure you have quality, original content is vital to ranking well.

But there is something that is more important - and more powerful - than content... it's networking.

The ability to make friends with other bloggers, and even average readers, can mean high rankings for your blog or website. Even if the content on your blog or website is pathetic (or just re-written garbage), you can still rank extremely well in the search engines if you are networked well.

Because, what you will find, is the people you connect with - whether they be powerful bloggers, or just no-name site visitors - are the people who control the search engines. They are the people who are writing in their blogs about you. They are the people who talk to their friends about you. They are the people who will link to you. They are the people who search and click on your website. Make friends with them and the search engines are at your mercy.

Sure, content is important to focus on when optimizing your website or blog, but if you aren't connecting with your readers, other bloggers, and people in general... your website has already failed.

Internet Hunger, one year later.

It was July 9th, 2007. After spending weeks designing the logo and signing up for the domain at Blogger.com, I made my first post here on Internet Hunger.

Now, one year later, the blog has become a place of reflection for me, rather than a big internet-focused center.

With countless new blogs, a full-time position at Logoworks by HP, and an increase in freelance projects, Internet Hunger has become more of a snack than a feast of internet goodness. And that's alright.

I honestly can't say what the future holds for Internet Hunger, but the past posts will always be here for you to read. Here are some of the most popular posts from the past year:

"Break out of the blogging mold and make your blog one of the best on the web."

"My new best friend: Google webmaster tools"

"What makes up a good man, is what will make your website great."

"The biggest, best, and most important social networking moments of 2007."

If you have a favorite post from Internet Hunger, post it here in the comments! And if you have been reading the blog since the beginning I would love to hear your feedback in the comments as well.

It's been a long year.

When link trading is like telemarketing.

The phone rings and, whether you are expecting a call or not, you quickly answer it. A voice on the other end of the line begins to chat about how you can lower your credit card payments, or make a $20,000 in a month, or buy nuclear weapons at your local supermarket.

If you are like most people, you hang up almost instantly.

Solicited phone calls like this are not only annoying, the success rate of such calls is minuscule. Does that stop companies from investing in making solicited calls? Obviously not.

Now imagine that you are checking your email.

You open your inbox to find that you have several new emails, most of which are from your friends, family, or coworkers; however, one email is from someone you don't know and titled "Your website looks great!"

You open the email and begin to read - what appears to be - a third grade book report on how linking to a website can benefit your website's rankings in search engines. Without thinking twice, you close the email and file it away as spam.

When it comes down to it, regular link trading (requesting a link exchange between two or more websites) is a lot like telemarketing. The person receiving the contact will - in most cases - completely ignore it.

That is, of course, unless you change your link trading strategy.

Don't be the telemarketer of the internet, get to know people, really appreciate those that you request link exchanges with, and above all: don't be annoying.

"The top five ways to grab attention and make a good first impression with your homepage."

This is a repost from 7/23/07.

The average online user spends anywhere from five seconds to 15 seconds to get an impression about a homepage that is new to them. Most of the time a user will determine that a website is useless to them by the content on the single page, and leave - never to return.

I don't want that to happen to your website, I want your website to be successful. Besides, losing any visitors is losing something valuable. So here is a quick list of the top five ways to grab attention and make a good first impression with your homepage.

Following these simple guidelines will not only ensure visitors to your homepage stay longer than 15 seconds, these methods will also create a lasting, good impression with your visitors.

Keep the focus on a single goal. Whatever the goal of your website is, that is what the focus of your homepage should be on. No matter what type of content you want on your homepage, if it isn't related - somehow - to your goal, it's pointless. Your viewers are going to be - most likely - skimming through the content of your homepage, having different messages and content can be confusing and easily convince a viewer that the website is "not beneficial" to them.

Don't lie. Don't write what you think people will want to read. Write what you have to say and leave it at that. There are only a few, select readers who will see past the baloney on your hompage - everyone else will click away with a feeling of being scammed, or worse.

Simplify. If you were forced to browse the web in 15 second intervals, you wouldn't want to come across a page that is flooded with images and a lot of text. Stating simple messages with limited images will attract your visitors, and if the small amount of content you have is good, your visitors will be attracted to the page and want to read more.

Make your visitors feel important. The easiest, and most beneficial, way to attract visitors attention is to make them feel important. Let it be known that you want to provide them with something valuable, and how it can benefit them. Be blatant about this, but - as stated previously - don't lie.

Get over yourself. Even if your website offers something completely incredible, new, and exciting, nobody will be interested if you come across as the "jackass" of all website. Your homepage should avoid stating how great you are - unless, of course, that is what the website is all about. Keeping everything about how great your website is on the About page will not deter from the goal of your website, and will help in simplifying your homepage.

You want your homepage to make attract your visitors and make great impression within the first 15 seconds. By focusing on one, single goal, not lying, maintaining a simple presence, making your visitors feel important, and not focusing on how great your website is, you can sleep comfortably, knowing that your visitors will go from your website with a great idea of what you can offer them.

Google updates PR (April 30, 2008)

Today Google updated their PageRankings through-out the internet. So check your pagerank and see how Google thinks you're doing.

"Until Internet Hunger comes back full force..."

No, Internet Hunger is not dead. No, I am not dead. No, the blog isn't going away. I have been extremely busy with my other blog: Creative Something. If you want more internet goodness, I suggest reading the following blogs until Internet Hunger comes back full force:

Social Desire.

DoshDosh.

SEO by the Sea.

Seo 2.0.

97th Floor.

SEOptimise.

Beanstalk.

Try this.

Instead of asking yourself: "How can I get links to my website?", ask: "How can I get people to want to link to my website?"

"My new best friend: Google webmaster tools"

The problem with having a day job that is separate from your freelance job is that I miss out on a lot of things. One thing I have been virtually running away from over the past year has now become a valuable resource for me, and it's a resource I strongly recommend any webmaster use.

Of course I'm talking about my new best friend: Google webmaster tools.

For those webmasters/bloggers who aren't aware: Google provides some interesting tools - directly from their website - that allow webmasters access to information such as: what the Google bot sees when it crawls your website for Google, how many links are coming into your website (and where they direct to), and a few other little treats.

I'll admit it: I've been an idiot or the past year, all because I felt like I didn't need to use the webmaster tools Google provides. I was so very wrong.

The reason it's valuable to you as a webmaster or blogger to use the tools Google provides for you is because Google reports EXACTLY what Google knows about your website. If there is a problem with a page on your site or blog and Google can't put that page in the search results, you're missing out on traffic and potential revenue/sales/subscribers; but with the webmaster tools, you can actually see if any page on your website is broken.

With the webmaster tools you can get a report card (sort of) from Google about your website on a daily basis. It's incredible! And did I mention that Google provides the tools to all webmasters for free? It takes one minute to sign up and verify your website (either by uploading a file to your server, or typing in a META tag).

Don't be an idiot like I have been over the past year, sign up to use Google's webmaster tools. Trust me: you will realize how important it is to do this within five minutes of signing up.

"How should a webmaster interpret Google Page Rank, and why?"

A few weeks ago I wrote about how webmasters who focus on Google's Page Rank are idiots, but what, exactly, is Page Rank? Better yet: how should a webmaster interpret Google Page Rank, and why?

The birth of Google's Page Rank.

In order to fully understand Page Rank, you need to first understand where it came from. Even if you already know, it's always a good idea to remind yourself. So...

Long ago, when search engines first became a big part of the online world, the search engine companies (like Google) realized that they needed a powerful, mathematical, and reliable way to determine how important websites are, and - as a result - which websites should appear in the search engine result pages when someone searches for a keyword.

The search engines quickly came up with networking link analysis, or: the more links a website has, the more important it must be.

And it made sense (at the time).

If a lot of websites are pointing to a specific website, that specific website must be pretty important, right? And if all of the websites linking to the specific website are linking with the keyword "bananas", then it's safe to assume that the specific website is a great "banana"-related website. Therefore, if someone goes to a search engine and types in "bananas" they would expect to see the great banana-related website that is getting a lot of attention from other websites.

Google (being the brilliant company they are/were) took link analysis a step further and spitted out a variation of Page Rank. Google realized that linking web pages (not just websites) was extremely important, but the actual links weren't the only important aspects for search engines to consider... there were other attributes that search engines should consider (such as the anchor text, how many links are pointing to the website that is linking out, how many links does the page have, etc.).

Google quietly assembled it's own unique algorithm to determine the importance and authority of a website on the internet. And because Google has been the leading search engine for several years, webmasters know that what Google says is important. Even if it doesn't make sense - and even if it's just plain stupid.

What does it all mean?

Now that you know where Google's Page Rank came from and what it is, we can accurately determine how to interpret it, right?

Wrong.

The truth of the matter is this: the way Google (and all of the other major search engines available online today) determines the value of a website is top secret information. If they gave away their big secret ranking algorithm they wouldn't be the number one search engine anymore. It's business. Google and Yahoo and MSN and Ask all have families to feed, so they won't be giving up their information anytime soon.

That doesn't mean, however, that you and I can't look at real life situations and make educated guesses as to what search engines are thinking of our websites. That's right: Google Page Rank DOES tell us something that we CAN interpret.

Google Page Rank can tell you exactly how important your website is... in it's niche.

If you don't know your Page Rank score, head over to PRChecker.info and find out.

A website's Page Rank is not compared to every website in existence. In-fact: Google Page Rank doesn't rank you against other websites at all. All Google Page Rank does is show the quantity and quality of links pointing to your website. Which means: if you have a PR of 0 (zero), then you either only have a few links pointing to your website, or none at all. If you have a PR of 1-3, you have a quite a few links (and maybe even some "big" and "popular" websites pointing to you. A PR of 4-5 means you have a lot of links, and most likely a few authority websites linking to you. And a PR of 6 or higher means your website is pretty popular and has thousands of links (or a lot of quality links).

Make sense? Good. Here's where you realize that it's all for not...

It's really not that important.

It's not a contest. Having a Page Rank that is higher than another website simply means that you have more links, it doesn't mean your website is better; and Google knows this.

Working to get a high Page Rank is great because it means you are trying to advertise/market your website and get people to link to you, but simply focusing all of your efforts on Page Rank is a complete waste of time. Your website will not see more traffic, you will not make more money, and children in Africa will still go hungry at night.

Google Page Rank (drum roll please)... is not really important at all.

So why, then, do webmasters often talk a lot about Page Rank? And why does Google still use it today?

Simply because it's still useful to the search engines. It's still a measuring tool for each specific (though individual) website.

Don't get carried away, Google Page Rank is great and all... but it's nothing more than a way to rank your own website's popularity.

This incredibly long and educational article was brought to you by Monster Energy Drinks. Keeping you energized, and keeping me up at crazy hours of the night.

Did you like this article? Do you think it was boring? Either way: subscribe to Internet Hunger and I'll keep sending crazy good dishes of internet yumminess straight to you!

Introducing Matt Cutt's alternate identity, Garry Conn.

I could hardly believe it when I saw it, but it looks like Matt Cutts has an alternate identity. Say hello to Garry Conn, or - as some like to call him - Matt Cutts, that Google guy.

Don't believe me? Head over to "Garry"'s website and take a look for yourself: GarryConn.com. A striking resemblance.

Nice try Matt, but we're on to you.

The single best line of advice for webmasters and bloggers is...

Quit thinking about traffic and how popular your site is, and start focusing on the content your website is missing.

The traffic your website or blog receives is only as good as the content you provide. So quit worrying about traffic and such, and start worrying about the quality of content you are putting online.

"Attributes that make up remarkable blog posts."

Karen E. Klein of BusinessWeek was right on the money when she said: "There's no doubt about it, blogs are hot. With their interactivity and their ability to position even micro-business owners as niche experts, blogs are the "it" marketing trend (source: businessweek)."

But blogging is hard, especially trying to blog really great content. That is, of course, unless you know what makes up a perfect blog post.

Who am I kidding? Nobody knows what makes the perfect blog post, but - as an expert - I do have an idea of attributes that make up remarkable blog posts. And today I'm going to share some of those attributes with you.

These are only recommendations for your blog, but if you follow them in each post you make, you are guaranteed to become a bit more popular, and have your blog be viewed as a bit more professional. So what are you waiting for? Start blogging with these traits:

Don't refer to companies or organizations... write about specific people. It doesn't matter what it takes: find out who did what and talk about them. Instead of writing about Apple releasing the iPhone, write about Steve Jobs announcing it. People like to connect, but they can't connect with organizations.

Avoid negativity... and instead write positive remarks. Readers love to be informed, and if they can go away from your blog feeling like they learned something good and powerful, they will come back for more. But if your readers are reading your criticism of everything about anything, they will quickly be turned away by your negative aura. It's like my Mother use to say: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

Speak your thoughts... nobody likes to read the same thing over and over again. That's why people love bloggers who have strong opinions and insights, which makes this point a "no brainer" for most. Don't be shy, your opinion matters to somebody; and if you share your opinion on enough interesting topics, your opinion will suddenly matter to a lot of people.

Don't blog when you are angry... even when you think you have something big to say. I know: this point contradicts with my previous point... but not really. You should post your opinions often, but anger is typically an irrational emotion and can lead to a lot of bad feelings on your blog. Instead: write down what you feel, then wait a day or two and see if you still feel that way; if you do: go ahead and blog about it. But, as I previously stated, try avoiding negativity at all costs.

Make your article easy to scan... because time is important for everybody. If your readers can come to your blog and quickly scan through your content to get a basic idea of what points you are trying to get across, they will be more likely to visit again and again and again. The easier your points are to get across: the more often people will read what you have to say.

Get to the point... and don't ramble on and on. Nobody cares THAT MUCH about what you have to say, but they do care a lot about news, research, and entertaining things.

Sure, nobody can make a "perfect" blog post, but we can all sure try; simply by trying to apply these attributes to each of your blog posts.

I'm heading out of town for the next few days, so there won't be any posts for a while, but when I get back I will be focusing on understanding a website's page rank (not just Google Page Rank, but REAL page rank).

"Page Rank will make you feel good, but higher conversions will make you rich."

When I first started working with the search engine optimization industry I was drawn to Google's page rank system. Google is - and most likely will continue to be - the largest search engine of our time, so when they say "we have created a system to rank webpages" you better pay attention.

If the leading search engine tells you that they have a way to monitor and rank your website, you would pay attention to what they have to say. And most web masters do. But some webmasters take the guidance from search engines like Google a bit too far.

Page Rank and linking = nasty taste in your mouth.

The problem with webmaster and search engine relationships arises when webmasters think that getting a high Page Rank from Google is essential to their website's success.

Surprise surprise, having a high Google Page Rank does not mean more traffic, more site conversions, and more popularity online. All a high Page Rank means is that Google thinks your website is fairly important.

And yeah, if Google thinks your website is important, that's great. And if you are building quality link partnerships with websites that Google thinks are important, that's great too.

But focusing on Google Page Rank will not - in any way, shape, or form - bring you more traffic. Focusing on getting a high Google Page Rank will not make you more sales, or higher click-through rates, or more subscribers. It won't.

So when webmasters focus on linking only with websites with high Page Rank, they are missing the point of Page Rank. In-fact: when webmasters focus on Page Rank at all, they are missing the point of Page Rank... which is authority and reputation.

I'm not that big of a deal, really.

If it's any consolation to those who believe Page Rank is almighty: ask your favorite bloggers how many subscribers they have, then look at the correlation to their blog's Page Rank. I am willing to bet that Page Rank has almost nothing to do with the amount of subscribers a blog gets. The content the blogger provides, as well as the networking they do on their own time, however, will greatly impact the number of subscribers that blog gets.

And what about online businesses? The Page Rank of a commerce site will NOT increase the amount of sales they receive. But selling a great product, on a great looking website, and focusing on gaining traffic (rather than high-quality links) will deliver more sales to that business. Guaranteed.

This blog, Internet Hunger, has a current Google Page Rank of 4 (higher than that of similar websites in the genre, and blogs that have been around much longer than Internet Hunger). And yet my traffic is less than that of other sites I run that have a Page Rank of 2 or less.

The rank doesn't matter, the marketing does.

Sure, linking with high Page Ranking websites is good for your relationship with Google, as a SEO I will never deny that fact. But there is bigger and better rewards to be sought by linking for traffic, and not for Page Rank.

So the next time you get an email request for a link on your website, look into the traffic rates and not so much the Page Rank.

Page Rank will make you feel good, but higher conversions will make you rich (and popular, and an authority, and powerful).

"Four fake, and one true, predictions about the future of the Internet."

What does the future of the Internet look like? Nobody can really say, but they can make predictions. And if you dig through enough predictions about the future of the Internet, you are bound to stumble across something that is right. Right?

Well, I have done just that. I have scoured the Internet in search of snippets about the future of the internet. So, take a look into the future by reading through these four fake, and one possibly true, predictions about the future of the Internet.

Rand Fishkin, CEO of SEOmoz: "I expect that new social communities will emerge and leverage the power of users to an even greater degree. One day, we might even see something like Naver in South Korea - where human answers and opinions precede algorithmic results (source: Internet Hunger)." In other words: the people - you and I - will be in more control, and search engines will no longer give us results based on calculations, but rather real answers from real people.

James Thomas, web developer for Oakley: "The future of the Internet is your desktop (source: CenterNetworks)." Not only can web-integration be found already in Apple desktops and iPod Touch and iPhone apps, it can also be found in Mozilla's Prism, and other upcoming technologies.

Vinton Cerf, vice-president and chief internet evangelist at Google: "Peer-to-peer services are not only here to stay, but they are undoubtably gonig to expand; it's not just for file transfer, it's for collaborative computing (source: Financial Times)." So we can expect to see an increase in peer-to-peer computing, not just for file sharing, but for a whole new world of networking.

Jonathan Zittrain, Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford University: "Instead of personal computers being able to run any program from any source without approval from a third party--which many of us were used to in the 1980s and 1990s--Zittrain fears we're entering a world where centralized approval becomes necessary (source: News.com)." Which means that our systems - including all internet access - will be completely controlled by corporations or government agencies.

1,286 technology leaders, scholars, industry officials, and analysts: ". . .in the next 10 years the Internet will be more deeply integrated in our physical environments and high-speed connections will proliferate – with mixed results. . . .the dawning of the blog era will bring radical change to the news and publishing industry and they think the Internet will have the least impact on religious institutions (source: Pew)." In a way, these 1,286 "experts" predict that the Internet will dominate almost all areas of our lives within 10 years.

After reading through these quotes, I'm interested in hearing you thoughts on the future of the Internet. So, what do you think the future of the Internet has in store for us all? And which of these predictions do you agree most with?

"The problem with the internet is that it makes us think we are all experts."

Have you ever done a search on Google for how to do something, how to fix a problem, or just for information on a topic to learn about?

If you are like most internet users, you have.

And, while the fountain of knowledge that the internet has become is plentiful and extremely rewarding, it creates a big problem - especially with, but not limited to, today's youth. The problem with the internet is that it makes us think we are all experts, when we're not.

Just because Google knows everything, doesn't mean you do too.

Google, today's leading search engine, has indexed and recorded more than 25 billion web pages and 1.3 billion images (source: Wikipedia), and massive online encyclopedias like Wikipedia have index almost as many topics as Google.

Whether you are looking to find a cure for the common cold, or how to build an A-Bomb, the internet is the place to look.

But that is where the problem begins. Once people start to look up this-and-that, they begin to think a bit more highly of themselves and their own knowledge.

Instead of taking the time to solve a mathematical problem, someone can simply type it into Google and get the answer. Just like that. And if you want to be a doctor, you don't really have to attend medical school for eight years; you can just learn everything you need to learn online.

Automobile problems? Do a quick search on Yahoo Answers. Want to be your own at-home vet? Google's got you covered. Need help with your taxes? Do I really need to keep going?

The internet is full of resources for everything and anything anyone could ever possibly need. But reading articles about a topic, watching DIY videos, and learning a little bit about something does not make you an expert. You cannot become a professional stock broker just by reading about it on Wikipedia.

And people need to start realizing this.

There is no doubt in my mind that we can learn a lot from the internet; we can become knowledgeable about things we otherwise never would have even dreamed about. But we tend to walk away feeling like professionals, like experts, when we're not really. To become an expert in something it requires time and trial-and-error and a lot more than just a video on YouTube and an article found on Google.

Do you agree?

Comments are now enabled on Internet Hunger!

I am currently in the process of updating Internet Hunger to finally allow comments. So be sure to leave a quick comment (you don't have to register, you can simply post comments immediately) letting me know what you've thought of the blog so far!

"You should stop blogging right now if..."

There are millions of dead blogs floating around the internet. And every minute you spend reading this blog, another blog joins the blog graveyard as the blogger decides it just wasn't right for him or her.

What about you and your blog? Is blogging right for you? Maybe, and maybe not. Here are a few signs that you weren't made for blogging. That's right, you should stop blogging right now if...

1. 99% your traffic comes from searches for unrelated terms.
2. Every post on your blog starts with: "Before you click away...".
3. All of your blog posts are nothing more than efforts to get traffic.
4. The ratio of actual content to advertisements is 1/20.
5. Your last name rhymes with "Pow".
6. Most of your blog posts have nothing to do with a similar topic.
7. Even though you know you need to use spell check, you never do.
8. Your idea of marketing involves dinner at your parents house.
9. You don't keep up with the latest buzz in your niche.
10. Stepping away from the computer is a chore.
11. You apologize after each break you take from posting.
12. Your blog posts are just reiterations of other blog posts.
13. Blogging is your way of coping with stress.
14. You blog just to be "popular".
15. Blogging has become a chore.
16. You have animated buttons on your website.
17. Each blog post is like an essay, and less like a blog post.
18. You think the internet is a series of tubes.
19. You don't practice what you preach on your blog.
20. The content on your blog is useless to everyone, especially your future self.

Rather than looking at this list as a few things to fuel you - or someone you know - to stop blogging, look at it as a list for improvement. If you match any of the things listed, take action now to improve your blogging.

There are already enough dead blogs out there, not enough remarkable ones.

"Three goals webmasters make, and why you should not make them yourself."

Maintaining a website or blog means you have to set goals from time to time. Whether it's goals with the amount of traffic you are - or are not - receiving, goals with the amount of content you provide, or even goals with the amount of goals you want to achieve, having goals for your site can mean growth for you.

Not surprisingly, webmasters tend to make goals for their website or blogs that are very similar. But what is surprising is that a lot of the goals webmasters tend to make aren't beneficial to them or their sites. So, to help you in your site goal process: here are three goals webmasters make, and why you should not make them yourself.

Get a specific number of visitors/subscribers.

Setting a goal to get a set number of visitors or subscribers isn't necessarily a horrible goal to make, but it does have a problem: you don't have much control over the outcome.

Sure, you can do everything in your power to get people to visit your website, but ultimately the amount of people who visit your website or subscribe to your blog is not up to you, and there is not much you can do about it.

Instead of setting a goal based on other people and variables that are out of your control, focus on a goal that you CAN control; like getting a certain amount of links (you can actively search out and get links to your site easily), or spending a certain amount of advertising dollars.

Don't set goals that you can't completely control the outcome of, you'll end up wasting more time and resources than if you set a goal that you can take complete action on.

Post new content every [insert random number] days.

Trying to get a specific number of site visitors or feed subscribers is slightly out of your control, so picking a goal that is more of a direct result of your actions is a must; unfortunately, setting a goal to put up a set amount of new content per [number].

It's great that you want to have new content on a scheduled basis, but setting such requirements for yourself can dramatically decrease the value of the content you are providing.

What happens if you wake up one morning and are too busy to write up some great and valuable content? What if there is a personal emergency and you never get around to perusing your content goal?

Setting a goal for when to add new content - as well as how much to add - is setting yourself up for failure, and definitely de-valuing your website or blog.

Instead, set a broader goal that won't hinder your creativity, and that won't restrict you to avoiding personal issues. Setting a goal like "Have 100 articles online within four months" is broad enough to give you creative space, but still requires you to put effort into it.

Set [blank number] goals.

Regardless of the number and types of goals you may - or may not - have already been setting for your site, they won't mean anything if they aren't for your growth.

A lot of webmasters set goals and then get discouraged when they don't achieve those goals, so they make another goal to set more goals and reach them. Then, when they don't reach their new goals, the webmasters will either set even more unachievable goals, or give up on their website altogether.

You are not suppose to be creating goals that will be the fuel behind your site or marketing efforts; instead, you should be creating goals at times that you see fit. If you are not seeing much traffic coming into your blog, set a goal to buy more advertising and try to influence more traffic.

Ultimately settings goals for your website or blog are for YOU, nobody else and for no other reason.

Goals should be set with growth in mind - and not just in a traffic kind of way. You should be able to learn what makes your website great, and what doesn't work. You should be focusing on ways that YOU can learn to be a better webmaster or provide better content, not what you can do to make yourself temporarily happy.

"If you've got nothing else to blog, use blogging as a bookmarking tool."

If you have ever thought about starting a blog, only to end up telling yourself "I have nothing to write about", or if you have a blog now but have ever sat down and told yourself the same thing, you aren't the only one. Even some of the best bloggers in the world have found themselves in a "what's the point?" state of mind.

And if that is where you are now, I'm here to tell you: there is hope. If you've got nothing else to blog, use blogging as a bookmarking tool.

A lot of the time bloggers get writing cramps, or decide against starting a new blog because of they feel like there isn't an audience for what they would have to say - or because they can't think of anything unique to say. That's where transforming a blog into an online bookmarking tool comes in.

Basically all you need to do is blog about any website, photo, online tool, games, etc. that you discover while going about your daily business. But you don't blog to tell other people about your findings online, you blog to remind yourself in the future; blogging specific things can be used as a powerful online bookmarking tool this way.

Not only will you find your blogging becomes extremely valuable to yourself, a lot of other people browsing around will become interested in the sites and photos and web-games and other online content that you find.

By using screenshots, photos, detailed descriptions, or just your own voice for each blog post - or bookmark - you are creating valuable content for other readers as well as yourself.

And the best part is: you don't have to try.

Simply find something you're interested in - whether it's vintage computers, unique cuisine, search engine optimization, travel destinations, or ANYTHING else - and start browsing sites about that topic. You can use sites like Flickr to find pictures you can blog about, BuzzFeed to find gossip to blog about, or just using Google to search for anything interesting on a topic that interests you. Then, once you find something that really peeks your interest, simply write about it. Link to the website. Show off pictures you find. Just write down whatever you feel or think about that specific thing.

If you find yourself not stumbling across anything particularly interesting - or worth blogging/bookmarking - then you don't have to blog that day. That's right: YOU DON'T HAVE TO BLOG IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY. No one will hold it against you. Your readership will not abandon you. Your blog will not lose popularity. If you don't have anything to bookmark on your blog, don't sweat it; something else will come up sooner or later that you WILL want to blog.

Just be sure not to skip too many days, people may think you have died.

So don't ever tell yourself that you have nothing to write about. Don't feel that there is nobody who would be interested in reading what you have to say, because that's not true. If you find something interesting, chances are pretty great that someone else will find what you've found interesting as well!

Quit worrying about what you're writing, just keep track of cool things you find or think through-out the day.

"Three incredibly simple marketing tactics you can learn from the movie Cloverfield."

I've got my tickets. I have seen ever trailer, every preview clip, and every "leaked" photo there is to see. I even convinced my long-time girlfriend to go with me. That's right, tonight I will be sitting on a cheap plastic chair, eating cheap popcorn (that is about as plastic as the chairs) and watching the monster from Cloverfield rip apart New York City like the millions of monsters before it.

If you haven't heard of Cloverfield yet - or of it's "code name": 1-18-08 - then you surely are missing out on a revolutionary marketing campaign for what, one would hope, is a masterpiece monster movie.

Take a minute to do a quick search for "Cloverfield" on Google, and then come back here and finish reading the article.

But if you have heard of Cloverfield, read on right now. Because, despite the fact that I'm a huge fan and you may not be - here are three incredibly simple marketing tactics you can learn from the movie Cloverfield.

Don't give away the whole show, until people pay for it.

The very first trailer that ever appeared for the movie Cloverfield showed a few kids in an apartment complex, followed by flickering lights, lots of screaming, and the head of the Statue of Liberty flying through the city streets of New York. What the trailer didn't show, however, was the name of the movie... or what it was really going to be about... or anything at all, really.

And that drove people - including myself - insane.

People literally jumped onto Google.com and searched for "1-18-08" in a desperate attempt to find ANYTHING on the movie. If they did find anything through their online search, it was a few random images, the trailer leaked onto YouTube, or some other obscure bit of information.

The first trailer, was a huge marketing success, and a great example of what internet marketers can do to drive their audience insane (in a good way) too.

Instead of giving away all of your web products or information, give out little tidbits - and make them look as interesting as possible - and people will slowly, but surely, do their best to find out more.

Before you know it thing will spread and your marketing campaign will explode with the force of a man-eating monster stomping through the remains of New York. ...or something.

Give out just enough information to peek people's interest, and nothing more until they pay - whether by subscribing to your feed, purchasing your service, or buying tickets for your movie.

Use reputations to build interest.

If you don't know who J.J. Abrams is then you probably have never seen the hit television show "Lost". Not only was J.J.'s name one of the tidbits of information that was shown during the first trailer, it is also plastered on everything related to his new movie Cloverfield.

And for good reason too; J.J. has created a fan base for himself based on the type of mysterious, mind-bending work he has done. And he knows that, because of what he has done in the past, he can use his name to get attention for his latest movie.

Even if a movie popped up and was titled "Barbie Goes to Vegas: A Documentary of Plastic in Las Vegas" and then showed the name "J.J. Abrams", millions of people would flock to the theater.

And you can do the same for your marketing campaign as well. If you're working for a big company or have done some recognizable work in the past, put the name on your latest campaign and people will become thoroughly interested... simply because of the name on the project.

If you're going to make it big, make it REALLY big.

While the marketing campaign was cleverly put together to peek interest of anyone who stumbled across it, and while it was slapped with a popular name, the real mojo comes from the actual campaign it's self; in this scenario: the movie.

And what a movie it is turning out to be - even the critics agree that it's a "must see" movie (just don't expect to go away thinking that it was life changing). The reason? It's about a giant monster, that we get to experience from a realistic, personal perspective.

J.J. Abrams knows that there have been hundreds of thousands of monster movies (don't get me started on Boa vs Python) in the past, but what none of them have managed to do was become realistic, frightening, and personal. So he made the movie big... REALLY big.

The director knew that people would be interested in his new perspective of a monster film and so he flaunted it in every aspect of the marketing.

Web marketing campaigns should be no different.

If you've got something new, revolutionary, and big, don't mess around with the little details. Market it as being MASSIVE - even if you're not planning on making it that big.

When people are told that this movie is going to be BIG and that the monster is going to be HUGE and that the ideas of the movie are MASSIVE, they are going to believe it.

Do the same thing for your online marketing campaign and you will quickly find that people will believe you, merely for the fact that you've made it seem so big.

And that's that. Whether the marketing campaign shows a snippet of what it's really about, it's branded with a memorable name, or it's made to look HUGE, these strategies will definitely help you and your next online campaign.

After I watch Cloverfield at the theater tonight I will be out of town for the rest of the weekend, so no new updates this Saturday and Sunday.

But you still should consider subscribing to Internet Hunger and getting awesome posts like this one almost daily.

"Confessions of an internet trouble marketer."

As an internet expert, it's my job to stay on top of the best ways to design, manage, and market websites, as well as online brands and identities. Over the past few years I have come to learn that, sometimes there are design or marketing tactics that don't fall within the boundaries of "moral standards" that get the job done better than any other tactic.

These tactics involve programming hacks, tricks with graphics, spamming a network, and more. No internet marketer is free of these tactics, because they all end up benefiting someone - and they are a lot of fun to play around with (just ask Neil Patel).

Sure, the tactics hurt others in the industry who are trying to use REAL strategies to build brands. And sure, the tactics are a type of "cheat", but that doesn't mean they're not fun to mess with and research results.

So, because this is the 100th post for Internet Hunger, I would like to dedicate this post to some of the "darker" tactics I have used in the past. That's right, these are confessions of an internet trouble marketer.

Before you go on to read my confessions, please note that these tactics have been used solely for research purposes and never for actual work. Using "dark hat", immoral, or cheap marketing tactics are not recommended for anything other than studying the effects they cause, and these examples do not demonstrate the quality or type of work I do on a regular basis.

Real marketers stick to real marketing.

I don't really have THAT many friends. - While working on a few different approaches to gaining popularity on Digg.com, I discovered a way to get a fairly large amount of friends (both fans and mutual) in a short amount of time. While I am not a very active member of the site, I have manged to gain quite a few fans with a minimal amount of effort.

Whether it involved voting up articles and requesting friendship in return, spamming a network of mutual friends to gain quick adds, or randomly voting up material for one category, I cheated my way to being "popular" on Digg - not that I care for being popular on Digg.

The result of befriending hundreds of other users? I found that my submissions to the site began to get a lot more attention than they had before. Even if I didn't shout a story, its odds of being voted to the home page increased dramatically. Instead of getting four or five votes for a story, I could now expect a minimum of 20 or more in a matter of minutes.

It's fun to see other people's articles go hot because of my faux relationships on the social website. And I have a lot of things planned to mess with the community a bit more.

Don't hate me for it, something good will come of my research on Digg.com... someday.

I am obsessed with links. - One of the most crucial aspects of internet marketing is links. Getting links, giving links, links, links, links, links, links. And I am unlike most internet marketers because I am literally obsessed with links.

Whether it's a best friend, a family member, a co-worker, a random blogger, or anyone at all... I will ask for a link from their website.

Unlike most "link obsessed", I try to avoid coming across as a complete idiot. But I still get antsy every time I hear the word "Page Rank" and if anyone ever mentions a possible link to my site I quickly try to find a way to repay them.

I love links and I'm not afraid to admit that I'm addicted to getting them.

Speaking of which: if you would like to point a link from your website my direction right about now, I would be forever thankful and would most likely link back... several times over the next few months.

I dropped a Google bomb. Or two. - While we're on the topic of links, I have to confess that I am absolutely fascinated by Google bombs, and have participated in several over the past few months. Not only do they work, but they last (and often bring in some nice traffic).

A Google bomb (for those who aren't aware) is when you bring up specific results in a search engine for a keyword. For example: instead of finding his person blog, when doing a search for "Matt Cutts", the results for the search would be "bombed" to present a website for the upcoming presidential elections.

Google bombs are not only a horribly sad way to change rankings in search engines, they're often considered to be illegal. But when you're changing the rankings for small keywords - like "Tanner knows his SEO" - there is more fun and insight to be had than damages.

But I've done it, and I will continue to be fascinated by the fact that such a thing is possible.

I blog to share, not to discuss. - The last confession I want to make today is all about Internet Hunger. If you hadn't noticed yet: there are no comments on Internet Hunger. You would imagine that an internet-related blog such as this one would adore comments and opinions from others, but you would be wrong.

Internet Hunger is not a place for discussion. It's a place for ideas and thoughts, nothing more. If you don't like what you read here, disagree on your own blog and never come back. However, if you like what you read, come back often and I'll do my best to provide you with some entertaining or valuable content.

That's it for my confessions. What would you confess?

"Having trouble finding purpose in your daily internet usage?"

According to Internet World Stats, 70% of everyone in North America accesses the internet.* That means that you are one out of roughly 334,659,631 people who are accessing the internet on a regular basis. And the amount of people getting online is growing by over 100% every day in North America alone.

With so many people online every single day, I can't help but wonder what you are all doing.

It's easy to get online and waste your time watching videos, reading news and articles, or playing games. But are you really doing anything productive with your time online? Or are you having trouble finding purpose in your daily internet usage?

While you may not be suffering from Internet addiction, you may be... are you ready for this? ...wasting your time.

Sure, it doesn't sound like a major problem now, but when you could be ending world hunger, making easy money, starting your own business, publishing a book, buying movie tickets, learning about sleepdisorders, paying your bills, or even winning a free cake, you will start to realize the many different way that your time online could be spent on more productive things.

The problem, as I see it, is that you don't have goals. You wake up in the morning, you log onto your favorite websites and let the ball roll. And, while there may be some purpose and goals made through-out the day, you are missing out on some great opportunities.

I'll give you a challenge: make a quick write-up of things you NEED to do online, and things you WANT to do online, over the next couple of days. And do them. If everything on your list gets crossed out for that day, get off the internet. Go for a walk, go socialize with people face-to-face, go do something that doesn't require YOU to be a robot.

End rant.

*Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

"Fact: search engines ultimately hinder creativity."

As you know, search engines are all about content. Paragraphs need to be related to subject matter, images need to be titled and given a description, and there needs to be text - the more text, the better.

If the search engines can't find readable content on your website, your site won't show up (or it will, but on an obscure page - like page 1043 of 1,000,000). And if your site doesn't show up in search engines you are missing out on valuable traffic.

The problem here is that search engines limit the way a webpage can be designed. In fact: search engines ultimately hinder creativity.

Search engines make everything rightside up.

Recently I was redesigning a website and wanted to create a design that would really standout from other websites; I wanted to make the website completely upside down. While this may seem like a silly idea, the content of the website would not only allow for all of the content to be flipped, visitors to the website wouldn't be missing out on anything because of the upside down website.

The entire website would be turned upside down using a few tricks, one method was to use different key characters to flip the content. Somewhat like this: ˙ɹoɟ ƃuıʇıɐʍ uǝǝq llɐ ǝʌ,ǝʍ ʇɐɥʍ ʇsnɾ 'ʇxǝʇ uʍop ǝpıspdn ˙lnɟɹǝpuoʍ 'ɥo. For the entire website.

Quickly, though, I realized that this idea was not going to work out for the website, simply because the search engines wouldn't allow it.

Not only would search engines not be able to understand the purpose of the website (because all of the text would be upside down, the search engine robots wouldn't be able to read it), but the creativity behind the site would end up being controlled heavily by the limitations of search engines.

It's not just upside down websites that are hurting.

Flipping websites upside down is not the only creative idea that is not possible because of search engines... graphic-heavy websites, dynamic websites using content that is pulled in from places like Twitter or even Blogger, and other creative ideas are all limited because of the limitations of search engines.

It's understandable: if content cannot be read by a robot, the website can't be indexed and ranked. It's even fair to say that this isn't a problem for the search engine companies, and it really fuels web designers to get REALLY creative with their websites; that or just ignore search engine ranking.

But ignoring search engine ranking, as stated before, means a big chunk of potential visitors will go missing.

So what do we, as designers, do about this?

If we are limited in creativity because of the limitations by search engines, and because we can't ignore developing websites for search engines, is there nothing we can do?

Perhaps, but it's time for search engine optimization experts to help web designers and developers find a way to optimize ANY website to show up on search engines. It's time for search engine companies to develop other ways to find, index, and rank websites on their results. It's time for designers to get REALLY creative with their techniques.

It's time that you realize how search engines hinder creativity.

"Subscribe to get Internet Hunger updates and win a free cake!"

How would you like to win a free cake? How about if I told you that you could win a free cake merely by clicking? Well, this is me telling you that you can win a free cake simply by clicking your mouse.

That's right. Not only could you win a free search engine optimization consultation for your website or blog, now you can win a free cake too!

All you have to do is subscribe to get Internet Hunger updates and win a free cake, shipped to your front door (or office) at no cost to you!

Internet Hunger is dedicated to feeding your need for internet goodness, whether it's the latest internet news and trends, internet marketing articles, or web design content. And now Internet Hunger is going to help you feed your need for cake too!

There is no cost, and absolutely anyone can enter. Just subscribe to Internet Hunger and enter for your chance to win a free cake.

The winner will be picked at random and announced on January 31st, the cake will be shipped once contact has been made with the winner.

*Image by Delightful Deliveries

"Five undeniable facts about internet marketing and how it relates to politics."

So you want to know what politics and internet marketing have in common? Some may think of internet marketing and politics as necessary evils, while others understand the importance and value of one or the other, or both. No matter how you look at internet marketing, and no matter how political you are, here are five undeniable facts about internet marketing and how it relates to politics.

Both are built on social relations.

Politics rely heavily on relationships between politicians and the general public, while internet marketing relies on relationships between the marketers and online socialites.

Because their success relies heavily on social relationships, internet marketers, similar to politicians, who don't know how to be extremely social with the people they are working with are doomed from the start. There is no way a political or online marketing campaign will be successful without the support of the people.

I wouldn't be able to market this blog without the help of my readers and subscribers, similarly: the United States could not have a President without the help of the citizens.

Both require strategic planning.

In order to get people on your their side, internet marketers and politicians have to spend a lot of money - and even more time - researching and planning (and occasionally lying).

There is a lot of time and often money that must be invested in order to build relationships, find a niche, address issues, find solutions, etc. etc.

Not once has anyone ever decided to run an online marketing, or political, campaign and instantly found success. Some people got lucky with an idea, and some people may have known how to interact with people, but nobody has ever found instant success in a political or internet marketing campaign.

Both can be approached differently.

Another reason both political campaigns and internet marketing campaigns require so much planning and research is because there are multiple ways each could be approached.

For example: some people believe that a successful internet marketing campaign should be built solely on link exchanges between one website and another, while others believe that linking should be automated through quality content. Some people believe that politics should be controlled by one individual or group, while others believe it should be powered by people.

There are so many ways to run a political campaign or an internet marketing campaign, that both are often widely debated throughout the world. Which leads us to our next point...

Both could be used for good or evil.

Internet marketers have the power and ability to alter news and search engines, valuable resources of information for more than 90% of all internet users. Similarly, politicians have the power and ability to fuel wars, change laws, and destroy the world as we know it.

As a society (both online and as citizens) it's our job to make sure the politicians aren't using their power for evil, and that internet marketers aren't' spamming the system.

Both make for horrible conversations at the dinner table.

No matter how much power politicians and internet marketers have, they still are the topic of great debate when it comes to conversations at the dinner table. There is almost no way to have a decent, argument-free, conversation about politics, or internet marketing.

If you liked this article, you should subscribe to Internet Hunger and get updates daily!

"Be prepared with this loss of internet preparedness kit."

Almost everything these days is powered by computers and controlled through networks across the internet. From traffic lights to powerplants, entire businesses to satellites, and news networks and blogs. If you're reading this right now: chances are a big chunk of your life is dependent on internet access and networking.

So what happens when the internet fails us and we cannot access any of our networks or news or tools or email? What happens when we lose the internet?

This morning I awoke to find myself in that exact situation: the internet in my apartment complex was down, and it looked like it wouldn't be up and running for a while. I was stuck without access to world news, without access to my email, I was - simply put, in trouble. But I wasn't completely out of luck, thanks to a bit of planning and preparation I was alright without access to the internet.

You can prepare yourself for this catastrophe by reading and using this Internet Hunger exclusive: because you never know when you could lose access to the internet, it's best to be prepared with this loss of internet preparedness kit.

Accessing Important News Headlines.

Because you will not have access to websites like CNN, FOX, and Digg, you'll need another way to access important news. If your internet is down because it's armageddon, how will you know that your internet isn't going to be turned back on?

The best way to access important news headlines when your internet is down is to own a working radio or television set. Even if you buy a radio or TV simply for this purpose, you need access to world news and this is the best way to get it without internet access.

If you want to be completely assured that you can stay up-to-date on the latest news, CNN.com offers a way for you to receive news directly to your cell phone. Which leads to the next part of the loss of internet preparedness kit...

Communicating with colleagues, friends and family.

If you have a cellphone you can use it for more than just accessing news and information from cellular stations, you can use it to keep in touch with your co-workers, friends, and family members.

It's best to prepare for this part of the kit by requesting phone numbers whenever communicating with someone via e-mail, that way, when your internet does go down, you can call to request work off, or find out what your friends are up to, or let your family know how horrible your life has become without internet access.

Because you won't have access to your email or instant messaging (or Myspace or FaceBook or LinkedIn profiles) you will have to rely on your cellular phone - or a landline phone, where available - to keep in touch with your contacts. Plan for this part of the kit now by asking your friends, family, and co-workers for the phone numbers.

Managing your schedule.

News and contacts are only a small part of internet life, if you use web-based applications to manage your schedule or events in your life, you'll need a backup plan for when you lose access to the internet.

The best way to do this is to sync any web calendars with computer or hardcopy calendars. Most computers now come with built in calendars that you can use, but if you don't have one now you can use these links to find one for your computer: Windows users can click here, Mac users click here.

By using hardcopy calendars, or calendars on your computer that don't use the internet, you can keep track of your appointments and all of those birthdays you always forget, despite your internet being down.

Expect the worst.

You can only plan ahead so much when it comes to disasters like losing internet access, so prepare as much as you can using the methods described here, and then do what you do best: expect the worst. Chances are you won't be able to access the internet again for a few days, your website or blog will lose traffic because you can't update, your parents will worry because they can no longer reach you via email, and all of your instant message buddies will disown you.

Plan ahead and don't let a loss of internet destroy your online life.

Or you can just check your internet cable connections and then try access the internet again.

"The best SEM campaign is the one that helps webmasters help themselves."

The father of Taoism and revered philosopher, Lao Tzu, has said something you have most likely heard before today, he once stated: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Lao's message is about helping others to help themselves, and not necessary about fishing; something that can be taken into many different areas of life, including search engine marketing. On that note, I feel the best way to conduct search engine marketing is not to simply go through the motions for a website, but provide the website with the method and means to help themselves.

After all, the best search engine marketing campaign is the one that helps webmasters help themselves.

If you give a website a link, you empower it for a day...

One of the major aspects of search engine marketing is linking between websites. If you have owned a website for longer than a month you will have probably received an email from someone you have never met before, requesting to get a link on your website pointing to their website; especially if you are a search engine marketer.

While any sane person would often shun dumbasses that request ridiculous links randomly, there are a few webmasters who gladly accept link exchanges. But there is a problem with both those webmasters who decide to shun people who request links and those who accept them without much action: they're not teaching the person who requested the link how to help themselves.

Search engine marketers need to be extremely weary of linking through requests. Instead of just searching for links - or handing out links to valuable websites - if you're a search engine marketer, you should be constructing relationships with websites you link with, or doing what you can to teach other webmasters what they can do (other than linking) to benefit their website; like how to build content that will create links automatically.

If you're running a SEM campaign for a website, make sure you're not just empowering it for a day. Find ways to help the website learn to create links on it's own through valuable content and other link building strategies.

Don't just write copy, create an understanding of what works.

Link building is not the only aspect of a search engine marketing campaign, copywriting is another aspect of any successful SEM campaign. But, like link building, there is no benefit to writing great copy for a website and leaving it at that. If you're a marketer you should be explaining to the webmaster why certain copy is beneficial to a website, how including specific keywords over and over again can increase authority for that keyword or keyphrase, and you should help webmasters understand how using keywords in links affects search engines.

It's easy to write up some great copy for a website, but the value there is limited; you're not teaching the webmaster(s) to write copy on their own, you're giving them copy to use for a day.

Educate and be educated.

Link building, copywriting, advertising, as well as identifying and creating value are all aspects of a search engine marketing campaign. Whether you're a webmaster who is looking to hire a business to run a SEM campaign, or you're a company that specializes in SEM, make sure you're getting and giving more than just a fish - more than just something that is simply provided to/from you.

If you're a search engine marketer: don't just go through the actions for your clients. Help teach them how they can help themselves.

If you're a webmaster: don't accept work that is not explained - in detail - to you. You can get more bang for your buck if you know what exactly is going on, and if you take just a few moments to educate yourself on it.

You won't loose business, you'll gain it.

As a search engine marketer you may be asking something along the lines of: "If I teach webmasters to do what I do for them, won't I loose business?"

The answer is: no.

The real value any marketer can provide to a client is how that customer can help him or herself in the future. A customer that has learned to help themselves through your efforts, like a man that has learned to fish, will be successful for a lifetime. And if you're helping other websites to be successful for life, you are providing an unbeatable service. In-fact, I would recommend increasing your rates and providing more of a value to your customers.

You may find that, instead of loosing business, you'll gain more.

That concludes today's post. It's Friday and because I don't post over the weekends that means I won't be posting until next Monday, but you don't have to sit and wait around for new posts, you can subscribe to Internet Hunger and get updates automatically through your favorite news aggregator or directly to your e-mail address, spam free.

"Part of the free SEO consultation you could win from Internet Hunger is keyword marketing."

Have you subscribed to Internet Hunger by e-mail and entered to win one of three free SEO consultations for your website or blog? If you haven't yet, subscribe by e-mail right now and you could win a free, complete, and professional search engine optimization consultation for the website of your choice.

An SEO consultation for your website or blog means an increase in traffic, an increase in online authority, and a possible increase in sales, as well as many more benefits that will drastically improve your website or blog. It doesn't matter how long you've had your website or blog, and it doesn't matter if you're a professional or not, a search engine optimization consultation can help your website grow.

One aspect of a consultation to optimize any website for search engines, and part of the free SEO consultation you could win from Internet Hunger, is keyword marketing. If you aren't already aware: keywords are the words that people typically type into a search engine when searching for something specific.

There are two types of keywords - or keyphrases - that search engine optimizers and marketers work with, known as "long tail" and "short tail" keywords - or keyphrases. Long tail keywords and keyphrases are extremely specific, whereas short tail keywords and keyphrases are very broad. For example: "King Salmon fishing in Kenai, Alaska" would be considered long tail, while "Salmon fishing" would be considered short tail.

Any great webmaster needs to optimize their website so that people searching for both long tail and short tail keywords or keyphrases will find their site.

The trick to keywords and phrases is that there are millions of websites that might already have a short tail keyword or phrase (a quick search on Google for the keyword "internet" returns 2,640,000,000 web pages), but only a few websites will have a specific long tail keyword or phrase (searching for "internet marketing, seo, and web design blog" on Google only returns 357,000 webpages). So marketing your website for long tail keywords is a great way to boost your website or blog's ranking and traffic - if only slightly.

Instead of optimizing and marketing your website for a variety of broad keywords, optimizing it for more-precise keywords and phrases can really benefit your website and how people find it through search engines.

But how, exactly, do you find what keywords and keyphrases to optimize your website for? And once you find the right keywords and phrases to use, how do you optimize your website for them?

Instead of trying to figure it out - and do it all - on your own, you can enter the Internet Hunger free SEO consultation contest!

Or if you would like more insight into search engine optimization, web design, internet marketing, and internet news you can simply subscribe to Internet Hunger and get updates - not spam - regularly.

"Your free premium guide to internet buzz." Plus a FREE download!

Staying on top of the latest internet news and buzz is like digging for gold. You have to sort through a lot of dirt, but once you find a tiny nugget of gold it can be extremely rewarding.

Whether you're a blogger looking for the latest hot topics to write about, an entrepreneur in search of ideas for your next business venture, or a marketer trying to find marketing ideas, staying on top of the latest and greatest in internet news and information can mean gold for you - literally.

But, just like digging for gold, finding and tracking internet buzz can be difficult and time consuming. Unless, of course, you have resources to help you out.

That's why, in order to help you stay on top of the latest buzz around the internet, and to help you find gold, Internet Hunger is providing you with this guide to internet buzz. That's right, here is your free premium guide to internet buzz. And to make things even easier for you, you can download this guide in PDF format simply by clicking here.

Where to find gold buzz.

In order to find buzz that is valuable online, you need to know where to look first. But looking for buzz can be the hardest part of staying on top of the latest internet news. Luckily for you, here are some of the absolute best resources of internet buzz for you to bookmark and use in your search for gold news and information.

Quickly browse around each website first - if you haven't already - and get a feel for where to spot the hottest buzz. And don't rely on simply one of the resources here to find quality buzz; instead, use two or three (or all) of the resources to find the biggest, and best buzz on the internet.

Upcoming blog posts on Technorati provides some interesting blog topics that are rising up in the rankings on Technorati - a major blog search engine. The topics you find popular here are typically small topics, little nuggets of gold, that you can use to easily, and quickly expand upon, it's a great place to start when looking for gold buzz..

The latest tech buzz from BuzzFeed is a great place to find some specific buzz from around the internet on the topic of technology. BuzzFeed is clean of spam and clutter, which makes it a great resource to find interesting buzz instantly and painlessly.

Popular URLs to the latest buzz at Popurls is fairly self explanatory. Popurls provides some of the most popular links from all around the internet. You are guaranteed to not only find interesting buzz at Popurls, but you can also, almost always, find the biggest buzz from all over the internet.

Top news of the day by Tailrank is just that: some of the top news for the day on blogs around the internet. Not only does Tailrank provide useful, valuable buzz, but they also link to thousands of blogs who are writing about the topic as well - so you can determine what has already been covered, what hasn't, and how popular a specific topic is on any set day.

Google Trends is most useful for search engine optimizers and marketers, but can also be a great resource for everyone else as well. Using statistics directly from their search engine, Google shows some of the hottest trends - or search terms - for the day.

Digging through the dirt.

Now that you have some of the best resources for online buzz you can begin to dig through the dirt and useless buzz to find the real gold news and information.

The easiest way to do this is to first take a look at how heavily a topic is being covered. If you read about something on BuzzFeed and then see it again on Tailrank and Popurls, you'll know that the topic is extremely popular.

While buzz and information that is already extremely popular is tough to transform into gold, it's definitely possible. Just browse through the coverage of the buzz and keep track of what is being said. The last thing you want to do with internet buzz is repeat what has already been said. Instead, find a unique approach to the topic, or try to find a piece of the buzz that has yet to be covered elsewhere.

The buzz is already popular, so unless you can create a unique approach, or unless you can add some useful insight into the topic, chances are the popular buzz won't turn into gold for you.

Yet, the popular buzz isn't all you can find using internet buzz resources.

You can find out about upcoming topics - buzz that has yet to be completely popular - and be one of the first to write or market that topic.

Simply monitor topics that flow across the resource sites listed above over a few days, after a while you'll begin to see trends. Maybe internet marketing is being featured on each of the websites, start focusing on internet marketing. Or perhaps a certain celebrity is being mentioned over and over again, jump on the train and focus on that celebrity to create a strong buzz yourself.

Don't give up.

The biggest thing you need to remember when monitoring and tracking internet buzz is this: it changes almost everyday. You have the resources now to easily manage the best buzz online, all you need to do now is take the time to sort through it everyday and track it however you can, and you'll be well on your way to writing the next big blog post, or solving a business problem, or marketing the next big thing.

You can also subscribe to Internet Hunger to get more resources and helpful guides. And don't forget to download the premium guide to internet buzz.

So what are you waiting for? Start digging for gold now!

"The biggest, best, and most important social networking moments of 2007."

That's it.

The year 2007 is officially nomore, but that doesn't mean we can't look back at some of the biggest, best, and most important social networking moments of 2007 and learn a thing or two.

So, for your entertainment - and education - here are just a few moments from 2007 that will go down in social networking, and all things internet, history.

Originally created for use as a linking network for close college students, Facebook turns into a $1 billion dollar service. Sure, millions and millions college students are the primary audience of Facebook, but after only a few months Facebook has become the network for professionals and students alike. Click here to read more about Facebook making it big.

Facebook may be making students and lots of professionals happy, but this year internet marketers and search engine optimizers got a taste of the good life as well, with the launch of the social network for internet marketers: Sphinn. You can click here to read more about how Sphinn made 2007 the year for internet marketing.

While new social networks like Sphinn began popping up in 2007, one of the most popular social networks of all time, Digg.com gets a price tag of $300 million dollars. What's that mean for the founders of Digg? A potential profit of millions. What's that mean for you? Absolutely nothing. But it still makes for a great read, so click here and learn more about Digg.com's million dollar pricetag.

Sure, $300 million dollars may seem like a lot, but in the grand scheme of things only one social network really kicked every other one in the year 2007. Of course we're talking about YouTube. This year, YouTube - king of all video content, ever - honored they're top celebrities, goofballs, and family videos in the 2007 YouTube Video Awards. Go ahead and click here to read more about The 2007 YouTube Video Awards.

If video content isn't your thing, but browsing random website on the internet is, you'll surely remember when eBay purchased StumbleUpon. Click here to read more about how eBay stormed the StumbleUpon HQ.

2007 was a pretty exciting year for internet users everywhere, and 2008 is already showing a lot of exciting potential for social networking, internet marketing, and online advertising. What better way to stay up-to-date on all things internet-related than to subscribe to Internet Hunger for the year? You won't be disappointed. And if you register right now to receive updates via e-mail (using the form to the right) you will automatically be entered to win a free SEO consultation for your website or blog!