Thursday, September 25, 2008

Simple file sharing and syncing

If you've been looking for a simple way to synchronize files between multiple computers, share files publicly with family and friends, or just keep a quick, drag-and-drop backup of your most valuable files, you might want to check out Dropbox, which recently launched out of beta.

Dropbox is about as simple and elegant as it gets; I've been using the beta for a few months and it's a breeze to move stuff around. It's nice to see something as complex as file synchronization handled so straightforwardly. Check it out here.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Using your Competitors' Keywords and Trademarks

We've discussed the use of negative keywords and competing keywords in your content as potential strategies to attract customers looking for alternatives to something – for instance, using "chemotherapy" and related keywords for a site that is actually promoting alternatives to traditional cancer treatment like chemotherapy. With non-trademark keywords, this is a sound strategy.

With trademarks, you have to be a little bit more careful. A recent ruling points out that using competitors' trademarks specifically for search engine optimization can run afoul of trademark law. The ruling seems to rest on the standard that the use of the words can create confusion for consumers but, since I'm not a lawyer, I'll send you right over to this excellent blog post that discusses it in detail.


Monday, September 01, 2008

Keyword Tool

For those of you who don't want to spring for tools like Wordtracker, Google offers similar functionality with its Keyword Tool. Google's Keyword Tool provides keyword assistance by allowing you to enter seed keywords or phrases and then showing you potential traffic of your keywords and suggesting related ones.

The tool is built primarily to assist pay-per-click customers in developing keyword lists but, if you are having trouble generating basic keywords for your product or service, it can be an excellent way to generate alternatives and evaluate their potential search traffic. Check it out here.