CrankyRants.com

Online auctions are big business - ever since eBay become the 800 pound gorilla in town. So how does any new wannabe up-and-coming auction marketplace website outdo eBay? Be different. Sometimes, it makes sense. Other times, it doesn’t. Outbid4less starts out different, all right. Start with popular items at prices that are 10 – 20% of retail. And cap the prices there. You heard it – you CAN’T bid higher.

So how do you win? From the name, you’d expect the lowest bidder to win. After all, if you’re outbidding for less, you should be offering less. Instead, it’s the highest unique price. If two people bid the same, the bids are thrown out. Adding to the feel-good factor, a promise to donate 30% of the proceeds to any charity of your choice. So while you go after the latest gizmo, you don’t have to feel guilty of depriving some unfortunate. The only fly in the ointment is the bid fee, at $5-$10 for the privilege of bidding. Not a deposit, but a fee. Given that an auction would have many bidders but only one winner, the others are effectively subsidizing the winner. So unless you expect to win all the time, you’ll lose more money than if you paid retail. Are you prepared to pay for my IPOD? If yes, please send it to me directly – why go through an auction which I might not win?  

When you first launch a website, you naturally want all the content crammed into it that you can lay hands on. But if it’s real traffic you’re looking for, consider taking a more patient approach.Anyone involved in SEO can tell you that organic growth of relevant content is the most successful long term strategy for search engine placement. When people read that, however, their brains toss the part they don’t understand or want to deal with: “organic.” What they see is “successful long term strategy” and “search engine placement.” And that’s where the trouble starts, because it’s the organic growth that does the work.

What do people mean when they talk about organic growth?

Organic growth means slow, steady, continual growth - the way plants and animals grow. When Google ranks your site they look for this pattern of growth to help determine whether your site is “for real.” Think of an informational site you visit a lot, a forum perhaps, or a site like Wikipedia. Those sites did not spring into being overnight, chock full of content and with a hundred links pointing to them. They started as miniatures of themselves, and as people posted messages and articles they got bigger and bigger.

How can this be harnessed to help promote a website?

Timing of updates can be more important than size of updates. A lot of webmasters have a hard time updating their site regularly. They have day jobs, families, and other websites to run. This can lead to a tendency to update sites in large infrequent chunks.

To get the maximum benefit from your updates, do this instead: When you get time to update your site, prepare and arrange your new content so that it can be uploaded in small pieces. Get everything ready to go so that the only task remaining is the actual publish. Then upload each small piece separately, allowing a day or two to pass between each upload.

By doing this your website ends up with the same content, but search engines monitoring how frequently you update will see a pattern of steady growth. You can still write or gather all your content in one fell swoop, just dole it out to your webserver slowly instead of as a single publish. You won’t see immediate results, but give this a month or two and search engines will take notice, to your benefit.

Oaseo spiders the Internet in order to bring its users the largest number of SEO jobs in the country.

Are you out of a job? Are you bored, underpaid or generally dissatisfied with your present job? Only you can make the difference and change what ever it is that you are doing now.First of all, if you are out of a job, then you have more than ample time to look for a job. There is strength in numbers. The more resumes you send out, the more applications you fill out and submit, the more contacts you make by phone or in person, is the only way you will ultimately seek your goal.

Resumes are absolutely essential in looking for a job. There are multiple sites on the internet that offer free templates for resumes. Look through these and find the most attractive layout for your specific work history. Keep in mind not to be too wordy when writing your resume. Employers sometimes look through hundreds of resumes. You want yours to stand out. Bullet point your qualifications and objectives.

If you already have a job, you need to set time aside each day to send your resume out and scan the want ads. Be specific when you give your present job information regarding contact information with your present employer. You don’t want to lose your present income because you are looking for a change.

If you are filling out an application furnished by your prospective employer, make sure that you complete it in its’ entirety. Incompletion indicates laziness and no one wants a lazy employee. Additionally, make sure what you write is neat and legible. Don’t scratch out if you make an error. Take it slow and you should not have any errors.

Above all, remain honest. Don’t state that you type 80 words a minute if you only type 20 words a minute. False information on your application or resume will catch up with you.

If you are not sure what you really want to do, I suggest taking short courses on what you think you are interested in. This will save you a lot of time and anguish in your future job prospecting.

You’ll find a good number of Las Vegas jobs at NVJobSearch.

Or the art of conveying something that’s exactly the opposite of what is. It’s like the technobabble that surrounds software. “New” means “it’s still got all the bugs, and we haven’t figured out what to do with it”. “Improved” is when “hey, we’ve identified all the bugs. Still haven’t removed them, but at least we know they’re there”. It’s just the same when it comes to Magazine Subscriptions. Mags Direct, they call it. When it’s a reseller site. You’d think they’d learn – if someone wants to go direct to the magazine, they don’t want to go to a reseller.

It’d be far better to call it Mags Reseller – or even Mags Discount Reseller - that appeals to the budget conscious guy who’s looking to subscribe. No Shipping or Sales tax. That’s easy. All they send you is the link to their website. No fooling around with second class mail, stamps and all. If anyone is looking to subscribe. Why would anyone want to come here, when he could go directly to the website himself. It’s got to be the 7% of net users who haven’t ever visited Google or Yahoo. Or whatever that percentage is. Only someone who hasn’t visited them would go here to find a subscription. If he ever finds it, that is. Or this piece, to tell him where to go.  

Big, Big, Big disappointment. Unless you’re into Hookahs, in which case it’s a maybe. When Jerry called me about this earlier in the day, it sounded so promising. Between his accent and the crackle on the phone line, what I heard was something else altogether. Even when he sent the link, didn’t think too much of it. The net probably accounts for 99% of all deliberate mis-spellings that occur. Too many guys thinking they’re smart, and chasing too few blind alleys.

The first click was kind of there. You know, the “are you above 18” bit which shows you’re on the right track? But from there, it was downhill all the way. Instead of the next hot thing, these guys are into the next chill? Not even cool. Chill. Goes from bad to worse. Click on the Miss Hookahtown, or give it a miss. You haven’t missed anything, because there isn’t anything to miss. Ditto for the Hookah Bar directory. I mean, who wants to go to NooYawk or Texas? And just for a smoke? And the clincher. Look at the testimonials. Troops from Iraq, for Christ’s sake. With all the odd news coming out from there, would you want to do the same things they do?  

Web 2.0 is a term that describes the second generation of functions accessible on the World Wide Web, the largest server in the world. With the new technology users are capable of sharing information in a way they were never able to before. With Web 2.0 a user’s Internet experience is much more like that of desktop applications than the original stagnant Web sites.

A popular feature available with Web 2.0 that is commonly used is blogs. These interactive components are a keystone characteristic of Web 2.0. Using Web 2.0 allows more people to find usage on the Internet because now shopping online is available. This has widened the market for multifarious companies. Some of the visual components of Web 2.0 sites are the use of three-dimensional aspects, large and sometimes highlighted text, and colorful displays. Along with the visual features, most Web 2.0 sites use meaningful URLs that convey what the website offers.

Unfortunately, there are not set standards for Web 2.0, which means that to some Web 2.0 means using HTML to a degree where everyone with a browser can access their site, but to others it means that anyone that is not using JavaScript, their site will be completely unusable.  

Was looking for information on driving lessons, and got referred to Driver education for teens in Texas. Not too bad actually - covers the generic, mundane details. But just replace Texas with any other name, and nothing much would change. Where it misses is the finer details of life in Texas. Like these basics.

• The best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.
• A seat belt buckle makes a pretty good branding iron.
• In July it only takes 2 fingers to steer your car.
• You can get sunburned through your car window.
• You realize that asphalt has a liquid state.
• You notice your radiator is overheating, before you start your car.

Or these accident excuses:

• My truck was legally parked as it backed into another vehicle.
• I hit a stationary truck that was coming from another direction.
• The telephone pole was approaching fast. I attempted to swerve out of its path when it hit me.
• The guy was all over

Web Directories are now a whole new animal. Cheetahfind’s got it : “With ten comprehensive categories, as many as 200 subcategories and integrated search tool this directory is the best resource if you want to find something or if you want to be found”.Get a free search engine for your site. Submit your url for free. Or feel free to pay for a premium listing. Have it your way – but just do it! And for the budding webmaster, a one stop shop. Templates, clipart, online calculators and hit counters.

Even better, for the times when you need content, or are just feeling down. Encouraging news like “Alternatives to Declaring Bankruptcy”. No other news, but hey, that’s a start! After all, you need to be prepared for the worst.

Last but not least - find interesting connections. The top categories listed are Fishing, Bizarre, Recruiters, Developers & Publishers, and Used. I guess it all hangs together. Recruiters fish for candidates, after all. And they’d prefer used – new is a no-no where it comes to recruiting. With all the competition around, they’d need to use bizarre methods.

I’m not sure where Developers & Publishers fit in, unless as the exception that proves the rule. That’s gotta be it.

Suffering withdrawal symptoms, missing your daily dose of mad ads on the idiot box? Relax – here’s a smarter way to get to dumb ads of the “As seen on TV” variety.TV products for less, on the Net. As the name says, you get less. Less of the mind-blowing posturing and monotonous pitch – it’s a webpage, after all, not a broadcast. But in essentials, it’s still the same hinky dinky gadgets, tools, accessories and consumable products that you never even knew you needed or missed till you saw it on candid TV.

All of it, for less! Like this offer for free government grants. Does that mean you get less of a grant? Doesn’t seem worthwhile, but hey, there’s one born every minute.

Or take a look at this gopher pickup tool. I thought it was guys picking up gals and vice versa, but if you’re into gophers …. you REALLY need this one.

At your wits end, screaming at children? Use “Kidz Bop”. Dual use : if it doesn’t keep their attention, remember the Bop. It works

Or did you realize you need “Urine Gone”? Useful for folks with dogs, cats, or adult bedwetting tendencies.

If you’d still prefer less, there’s a simple solution. Shut down your browser. Or surf elsewhere.