One of the things that I do to track who is reprinting my online content is to set up a weekly Google Alert for various article and page titles. That is how I came across these two resources for finding free downloadable article:
Osun.org is an online document search engine that allows you to look for PDF, Word, and PowerPoint files. This service doesn't host any of the documents, it only provides a search service. Although it looks like this site launched only last August, it is already a very high traffic site, ranked as one of the top 5,000 domains by Alexa.
The site doesn't provide any information about its ownership or history. Although its servers are hosted by Google's servers, there is no indication that it is owned or controlled by Google. A Shaw.ca article describes a test of the Osun.org search engine with Google and found that the results for the same search was similar, but beyond that they had no further insights about this site.
EbookNetworking.net is a more narrowly focused document search engine, focusing only on PDF files. It provides more information to the user, including an index of previously searched files.
Showing posts with label free. Show all posts
Showing posts with label free. Show all posts
Monday, January 18, 2010
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
What Is All the Fuss About Free and Why Anyone Who Is Online Should Pay Attention
If you are doing anything involving the web, most of the really good stuff is free, from basic office and business services like Gmail and Google Docs, to entertainment options like YouTube to iTunes, most of the really good stuff is free, and most of the rest of the stuff that costs money has free options that are very, very capable.
Have all the online business types lost their minds? Is this the beginning of the end of capitalism and the final triumph of socialism? Hardly.
It may be a bit hard to believe, but offering content, services, and knowledge for free has been the path to the growth of businesses associated with the Internet, and to the creation of revolutionary changes in communication, publishing, and a host of other areas.
Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired magazine and the author of The Long Tail, laid out the basic reality of this free economy in his recent book Free: The Future of a Radical Price makes the following general argument:
- The economics of the Internet allows a near zero marginal cost for distribution, so all content is getting cheaper over time.
- The concept of "There's no such thing as a free lunch" is giving way to the idea that a free lunch is not a gimmick to get you to buy something.
- If the good and useful stuff is free, you can't win on price, you have to focus on quality and relevance.
- The challenge for anyone or any business that is online is to create an audience or potential customer base with free services, content, or information, and then work to get something of value from them. While the exchange can be for money, it can also be for intangible things like reputation.
For a more detailed background on the concept of free, check out this Wired article from February 2008, Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business.
Have all the online business types lost their minds? Is this the beginning of the end of capitalism and the final triumph of socialism? Hardly.
It may be a bit hard to believe, but offering content, services, and knowledge for free has been the path to the growth of businesses associated with the Internet, and to the creation of revolutionary changes in communication, publishing, and a host of other areas.
Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired magazine and the author of The Long Tail, laid out the basic reality of this free economy in his recent book Free: The Future of a Radical Price makes the following general argument:
- The economics of the Internet allows a near zero marginal cost for distribution, so all content is getting cheaper over time.
- The concept of "There's no such thing as a free lunch" is giving way to the idea that a free lunch is not a gimmick to get you to buy something.
- If the good and useful stuff is free, you can't win on price, you have to focus on quality and relevance.
- The challenge for anyone or any business that is online is to create an audience or potential customer base with free services, content, or information, and then work to get something of value from them. While the exchange can be for money, it can also be for intangible things like reputation.
For a more detailed background on the concept of free, check out this Wired article from February 2008, Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Blackouts, Twitter, and Social Media
If you are involved with search engine optimization, or you actively use social media for online marketing, then you are constantly getting exposed to new and different online resources, or trying to figure out different ways to use them to make money or to keep your business moving forward. Sometimes it takes a dramatic event to show us just how useful these tools can be in a totally different situation.
A few weeks ago, the dramatic event for me was a blackout. I was at home late on a weekend night, and the lights suddenly went out. I looked out the window and saw a nearby neighborhood was lit up, so I figured it was a localized blackout. I also figured it wasn't going to be a big local news story, so listening to the radio probably wouldn't give me much information.
The TV and computer were out, but my phone, which had Internet access, was up and running. I suddenly had a wild thought about how to get information on my neighborhood blackout. I'd used Twitter, specifically the search function in Twitter at search.twitter.com, and did a search on my neighborhood's name.
What I found surprised me. There were quite a few people who were using their Blackberrys and iPhones to send Twitter messages to their friends. It was surprising because the area affected by the blackout had about 10,000 residents, but most would not have even had access to the Internet, and only some of them would have had both Twitter accounts and a desire to send out messages.
The number of people using Twitter in my neighborhood was surprising, but the content of the messages were not so surprising. Most of the messages were not very useful, with things like jokes, rumor mongering, and wild speculation about the blackout. In spite of the useless noise, I did find several useful pieces of information, things like links to the power company's web site and Twitter account. Links to the Twitter accounts of local television news organizations, and updates on what blocks were getting back their lights.
So what should you take away from this little story? First, if someone in your family is using Twitter, don't get in their way. If you are thinking about using Twitter, go ahead and check it out. You may actually like it. The service may come in handy one day in ways you can't imagine. Whether you use it or not, check out search.twitter.com. Search it like you would a search engine and look for things that interest you. I've found it very useful for breaking news items. For details, check out a post of mine from another blog that describes how I use Twitter to support my web site AirSafe.com.
Because of this experience, I found out several things I didn't know, such as the fact that local news organizations use Twitter, as does the local electric utility. Next time there's a problem with my electricity, I'll know where to go.
For even more insights into the kinds of social media resources are out there for you to use, check out my list of 10 free social media tools you should try.
A few weeks ago, the dramatic event for me was a blackout. I was at home late on a weekend night, and the lights suddenly went out. I looked out the window and saw a nearby neighborhood was lit up, so I figured it was a localized blackout. I also figured it wasn't going to be a big local news story, so listening to the radio probably wouldn't give me much information. The TV and computer were out, but my phone, which had Internet access, was up and running. I suddenly had a wild thought about how to get information on my neighborhood blackout. I'd used Twitter, specifically the search function in Twitter at search.twitter.com, and did a search on my neighborhood's name.
What I found surprised me. There were quite a few people who were using their Blackberrys and iPhones to send Twitter messages to their friends. It was surprising because the area affected by the blackout had about 10,000 residents, but most would not have even had access to the Internet, and only some of them would have had both Twitter accounts and a desire to send out messages.
The number of people using Twitter in my neighborhood was surprising, but the content of the messages were not so surprising. Most of the messages were not very useful, with things like jokes, rumor mongering, and wild speculation about the blackout. In spite of the useless noise, I did find several useful pieces of information, things like links to the power company's web site and Twitter account. Links to the Twitter accounts of local television news organizations, and updates on what blocks were getting back their lights.
So what should you take away from this little story? First, if someone in your family is using Twitter, don't get in their way. If you are thinking about using Twitter, go ahead and check it out. You may actually like it. The service may come in handy one day in ways you can't imagine. Whether you use it or not, check out search.twitter.com. Search it like you would a search engine and look for things that interest you. I've found it very useful for breaking news items. For details, check out a post of mine from another blog that describes how I use Twitter to support my web site AirSafe.com.
Because of this experience, I found out several things I didn't know, such as the fact that local news organizations use Twitter, as does the local electric utility. Next time there's a problem with my electricity, I'll know where to go.
For even more insights into the kinds of social media resources are out there for you to use, check out my list of 10 free social media tools you should try.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Website Grader is a Free SEO That Gives You Immediate Feedback on the Marketing Effectiveness of Your Site
When it comes to online marketing tools, I have three basic criteria:
1. It has to be free
2. It has to be easy to use
3. I has to give me immediate and useful feedback.
Website Grader meets all those criteria in a big way. It is a free SEO tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a website. It provides a score that incorporates things like website traffic, SEO, social popularity and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how the website can be improved from a marketing perspective.
I tried it on my oldest website, AirSafe.com, which has been around for over 13 years and has for several years has consistently been been a top ten result in Google for searches on key terms like 'airline safety.'
I put in the URL, and within a minute, I got back a detailed report on how well the site worked when it came to on-page SEO like the quality of the metadata and readability level, and off-page SEO like Google PageRank, Alexa rank, and whether the site was on key directories. You can even include competing web sites in your analysis to see how they compare to yours.
The report was well organized, giving clear suggestions on how to improve the site. I was so impressed by it that I immediately updated the site to deal with the minor issues it uncovered, oversights like having images without alternative text.
It also has several convenience factors like the ability to email the results. The service even provides online access to your report. For an example of how it works, visit a recent report page for AirSafe.com.
Don't take my word for it. Try it for yourself, and tell me what you think.
1. It has to be free
2. It has to be easy to use
3. I has to give me immediate and useful feedback.
Website Grader meets all those criteria in a big way. It is a free SEO tool that measures the marketing effectiveness of a website. It provides a score that incorporates things like website traffic, SEO, social popularity and other technical factors. It also provides some basic advice on how the website can be improved from a marketing perspective.
I tried it on my oldest website, AirSafe.com, which has been around for over 13 years and has for several years has consistently been been a top ten result in Google for searches on key terms like 'airline safety.'
I put in the URL, and within a minute, I got back a detailed report on how well the site worked when it came to on-page SEO like the quality of the metadata and readability level, and off-page SEO like Google PageRank, Alexa rank, and whether the site was on key directories. You can even include competing web sites in your analysis to see how they compare to yours.
The report was well organized, giving clear suggestions on how to improve the site. I was so impressed by it that I immediately updated the site to deal with the minor issues it uncovered, oversights like having images without alternative text.
It also has several convenience factors like the ability to email the results. The service even provides online access to your report. For an example of how it works, visit a recent report page for AirSafe.com.
Don't take my word for it. Try it for yourself, and tell me what you think.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Two Useful Resources for Site Owners
The Internet is an evolving universe, and no matter how much I do online, I'm always discovering new and useful resources that help me to manage several web sites, blogs, and many other online activities. Two interesting ones that I came across yesterday were Lifehacker.com and TheSimpleDollar.com. The first site I actually found after coming across the book Upgrade Your Life which was written by the same organization. Basically LifeHacker.com gives you all kinds of advice on how to improve or streamline what you do online. You've probably done a few of these things already, and not all of them will be useful to you, but I'd be surprised if you could not find a few things that would make your time on the site worthwhile.
I found the other site from a link from Lifehacker.com. TheSimpleDoallar.com is run by Trent Hamm, who is also the author of the book 365 Ways to Live Cheap!, and is a wide ranging blog about ways that you can deal with bad spending habits and financial stress. Two articles that caught my eye was a list of 30 free and open source software programs for Windows based computers, and the second is a very good argument for investing in a sturdy file cabinet as well as detailed listing of what kind of documents and other items you should keep in them.
My book Parenting and the Internet had a list of my top 10 recommended free software programs, plus a list of dozens of others. If you subscribe to the Parenting and the Internet mailing list, I'll give you a link to a free PDF download of the entire contents of the book.
I found the other site from a link from Lifehacker.com. TheSimpleDoallar.com is run by Trent Hamm, who is also the author of the book 365 Ways to Live Cheap!, and is a wide ranging blog about ways that you can deal with bad spending habits and financial stress. Two articles that caught my eye was a list of 30 free and open source software programs for Windows based computers, and the second is a very good argument for investing in a sturdy file cabinet as well as detailed listing of what kind of documents and other items you should keep in them.
My book Parenting and the Internet had a list of my top 10 recommended free software programs, plus a list of dozens of others. If you subscribe to the Parenting and the Internet mailing list, I'll give you a link to a free PDF download of the entire contents of the book.
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