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Monday, December 29, 2003
Powerpoint Has a Rival?
In an article titled Yes, Virginia, Powerpoint Has a Rival, the New York Times suggests that ">Live Presentations", a $49.95 presentation software from Data Becker, is a viable PowerPoint alternative.
The reasons? PowerPoint costs $200+, while >Live Presentations is a much lower cost option for students, home offices, etc. Sure, it doesn't have all the fancy bells and whistles that PowerPoint does, but >Live Presentations will put together and display a nice presentation, and it will even let you open and edit PowerPoint files.
For the budget constrained, >Live Presentations might be worth checking out at Amazon (usually lower prices than the manufacturer's site...) ¶ 12/29/2003 10:40:00 AM
In an article titled Yes, Virginia, Powerpoint Has a Rival, the New York Times suggests that ">Live Presentations", a $49.95 presentation software from Data Becker, is a viable PowerPoint alternative.
The reasons? PowerPoint costs $200+, while >Live Presentations is a much lower cost option for students, home offices, etc. Sure, it doesn't have all the fancy bells and whistles that PowerPoint does, but >Live Presentations will put together and display a nice presentation, and it will even let you open and edit PowerPoint files.
For the budget constrained, >Live Presentations might be worth checking out at Amazon (usually lower prices than the manufacturer's site...) ¶ 12/29/2003 10:40:00 AM
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
It's Juxtaposition. . .
December is hectic, what with holiday shopping & parties weaving their way in among end-of-the-year client deadlines. My handy Handspring was frequently in my paw, helping me navigate through all the personal & professional paraphenalia.
However, I set my trusty Palm Pilot down among a pile of yet-to-be wrapped Xmas gifts, and lost it for a day. Happily, a friend spotted it admidst the rubble, and I immmediately understood why I couldn't find it.
I had inadvertantantly set the Handspring down on the back of a Gary Larson Far Side cartoon book, and got the following interesting juxtaposition of reality meeting Christmas chaos.
I'm going to let this little image serve as my holiday reminder to keep my focus where it needs to be!
Merry Christmas! ¶ 12/24/2003 09:10:00 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
December is hectic, what with holiday shopping & parties weaving their way in among end-of-the-year client deadlines. My handy Handspring was frequently in my paw, helping me navigate through all the personal & professional paraphenalia.
However, I set my trusty Palm Pilot down among a pile of yet-to-be wrapped Xmas gifts, and lost it for a day. Happily, a friend spotted it admidst the rubble, and I immmediately understood why I couldn't find it.
I had inadvertantantly set the Handspring down on the back of a Gary Larson Far Side cartoon book, and got the following interesting juxtaposition of reality meeting Christmas chaos.
I'm going to let this little image serve as my holiday reminder to keep my focus where it needs to be!
Merry Christmas! ¶ 12/24/2003 09:10:00 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
If You Build It, Links Will Come: Why Content is Still King!
"Content is not king and does not help your ranking."
I read this quote in an article on how to get top rankings at Google. The author's premise was "why bother to write good content, when you can go the "miserable failure" route (see two blogs below) and just ask a ton of people to link to your site, using a desirable keyword phrase?"
I disagree strongly for one key reason: the tiresome link-exchange approach doesn't do anything to make your site better in the long term.
People are at search engines, looking for information. In my experience, links will happen when you provide good content. For example, when you have an interesting article at your site, people will link to it. If you market your site honestly through a press release and get articles written about you or your business, the links will come naturally.
And all without spamming people and begging them to link to you, when you've done little more than put up a 10 or 12 page site.
Artificially "stuffing the Page Rank ballot box" by begging people to link to you is not a sound strategy. It's exactly why Google changed its magic formula: to get link-exchangers to stop artificially inflating their importance and to start adding real value to their sites by adding content.
And that's why content is still king. Keep in mind: search engine marketing is a long term strategy, not a quick fix. People may come for the short term with a lot of hyper-inflated links, but without good content, they won't stay, they won't come back, and they won't tell their friends.
And they sure as heck won't buy anything!
Instead, try this link strategy: add value to your site by adding content that people feel inspired to link to. If you build a content-rich site, the links will come. ¶ 12/23/2003 10:32:00 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
"Content is not king and does not help your ranking."
I read this quote in an article on how to get top rankings at Google. The author's premise was "why bother to write good content, when you can go the "miserable failure" route (see two blogs below) and just ask a ton of people to link to your site, using a desirable keyword phrase?"
I disagree strongly for one key reason: the tiresome link-exchange approach doesn't do anything to make your site better in the long term.
People are at search engines, looking for information. In my experience, links will happen when you provide good content. For example, when you have an interesting article at your site, people will link to it. If you market your site honestly through a press release and get articles written about you or your business, the links will come naturally.
And all without spamming people and begging them to link to you, when you've done little more than put up a 10 or 12 page site.
Artificially "stuffing the Page Rank ballot box" by begging people to link to you is not a sound strategy. It's exactly why Google changed its magic formula: to get link-exchangers to stop artificially inflating their importance and to start adding real value to their sites by adding content.
And that's why content is still king. Keep in mind: search engine marketing is a long term strategy, not a quick fix. People may come for the short term with a lot of hyper-inflated links, but without good content, they won't stay, they won't come back, and they won't tell their friends.
And they sure as heck won't buy anything!
Instead, try this link strategy: add value to your site by adding content that people feel inspired to link to. If you build a content-rich site, the links will come. ¶ 12/23/2003 10:32:00 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Monday, December 22, 2003
One bad PowerPoint crash. . .
A recent New York Times article (free registration required) said that NASA's Columbia Accident Investigation Board blamed the space shuttle crash (in part) on PowerPoint! It said, "NASA, the board argued, had become too reliant on presenting complex information via PowerPoint, instead of by means of traditional ink-and-paper technical reports."
Read on>>> ¶ 12/22/2003 11:28:00 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
A recent New York Times article (free registration required) said that NASA's Columbia Accident Investigation Board blamed the space shuttle crash (in part) on PowerPoint! It said, "NASA, the board argued, had become too reliant on presenting complex information via PowerPoint, instead of by means of traditional ink-and-paper technical reports."
Read on>>> ¶ 12/22/2003 11:28:00 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Monday, December 15, 2003
One way to get top ranking at Google. . .
If you go to Google.com and type in the phrase "miserable failure" (without the quotes) and then hit the "I feel lucky" button, you'll be directed to the biography of George W.
"Now how can that be?" you may wonder. No where in Bush's bio does the writer mention the phrase "miserable failure".
This is obviously a prank, and a clever one, at that. The person who thinks that the guy who is currently occupying the White House is a "miserable failure" posted a blog, asking everyone who had a blog or a website to link the keyword phrase "miserable failure" to the George W. bio site.
Since Google uses Page Rank as part of its alogrhythm to determine which sites come up first in its search rankings, if you can get a couple of thousand people to link to a page using a relatively unpopular phrase....Google will likely rank this page very highly. And rumor has it that Google also looks at blog links very closely, as well.
In this prankster's case, it doesn't matter that the bio page didn't use the phrase in its copy or title. All it took was a few thousand people casting their opinion via a link.
It might be a better use of time to encourage people to do that kind of linking for your site, with a highly competitive phrase! Now that could be profitable! :)
¶ 12/15/2003 08:56:00 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
If you go to Google.com and type in the phrase "miserable failure" (without the quotes) and then hit the "I feel lucky" button, you'll be directed to the biography of George W.
"Now how can that be?" you may wonder. No where in Bush's bio does the writer mention the phrase "miserable failure".
This is obviously a prank, and a clever one, at that. The person who thinks that the guy who is currently occupying the White House is a "miserable failure" posted a blog, asking everyone who had a blog or a website to link the keyword phrase "miserable failure" to the George W. bio site.
Since Google uses Page Rank as part of its alogrhythm to determine which sites come up first in its search rankings, if you can get a couple of thousand people to link to a page using a relatively unpopular phrase....Google will likely rank this page very highly. And rumor has it that Google also looks at blog links very closely, as well.
In this prankster's case, it doesn't matter that the bio page didn't use the phrase in its copy or title. All it took was a few thousand people casting their opinion via a link.
It might be a better use of time to encourage people to do that kind of linking for your site, with a highly competitive phrase! Now that could be profitable! :)
¶ 12/15/2003 08:56:00 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
David Byrne PowerPoint
David Byrne of Talking Head fame uses PowerPoint to make art. His new book and DVD set, Envisioning Emotional Epistemological Information, may be a lovely business gift for the PowerPoint professional on your list. Check it out at Amazon.com
Tuesday, December 02, 2003
PowerPoint Holiday Card Fun!
Remember, you can have a world of fun creating and delivering your holiday cards in PowerPoint. Seasonal animation and graphics can add a nice touch to a December sales presentation. Use clipart, use animation, but above all, use your imagination!
I created an animated email holiday card in PowerPoint and delivered it to customers. I made the setting small enough to fit inside an email frame (you don't have to use the default size and shape in PowerPoint!), ran it through Impatica so that it would play upon opening the email.
Since many of my customers are at work, I decided against using sound.
The result? Happy flying penguins! And delighted customers. . .
See the PowerPoint Christmas Card >>>
Monday, December 01, 2003
Avoid `death by PowerPoint'
Quote of the day from the Sunday, Nov. 30 edition of the business section of the Toronto star:
"...PowerPoint doesn't kill presentations: people kill presentations."
Read the entire Toronto Star article about how to give a winning PowerPoint Presentation>>>
