Search Engines -Google.com,Yahoo.com and MSN.com
Search Engines -What are search engines? As per wikipedia,
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information which must be consulted, akin to other techniques for managing information overload.
With so many search engines coming up in the market every day, there is a tough competition. But so far the 3 most popular search engines have been Google, Yahoo and MSN. I myself have never worried about my rankings in other engines apart from these three major search engines. I feel, if your site ranks high in these engines, then they will automatically rank high in other engines. Many people feel that along with these three main players, ask.com is also a popular engine. If you go to this site Googlerankings.com , it also shows your keyword results from these 4 search engines.
Out of curiosity, I tried to check their rankings on Compete.com and Alexa.com and in both the sites, Yahoo is the King, it is the number one website. Compete is so far, able to track only the US traffic, and very soon they will be recording international traffic as well. Check the rankings snapshots.
I feel the main popularity of Google among the website owners is also majorly due to the Advertising services it offers, in the form of Google Adwords and Google Adsense and along with that Google Pagerank(all are waiting for the next update!). You can boast of a high PR and can always demand good money from advertisers. There can be a big debate over the importance of Google Pagerank, but still the fact will remain that Google pagerank is still important.
As we have put Google as the homepage, my son also knows that if you want to go to any site just type it in the search box. So he tries to learn the spellings of all his favorite cartoon channels, so that he can go to that site and play the games. And for him the default site is Nick Junior when he is not able to ask the spelling of other sites. He knows that for Nick Junior, he has to simply type “Nick Jr” in the search window. To go to his website also, he will first type “urjit” on google.com and then from the results displayed, he will find his site and click on that.So to summarize, Google.com will remain the number 1 search engine.
Affiliate Programs - Do they really work?
These days with all major websites offering affiliate programs, it seems everyone is just into it. But for me, it has not yet worked. I have registered my self with a few of the affiliate programs… mostly on invitation from their team, but I really don’t see any conversion happening though the impressions are so high. Sometimes I wonder if the affiliate code is being tracked properly or not. And also, since the whole affiliation program is based on cookies,you never know when it can get cleared from your referral’s machine.
I have not seen much success with the affiliate programs so far and with one, it was good, but I got cheated and after making 97$, they just denied to pay me. So the best money making tool for me so far has been Google Adsense and I am happy that Google is good in tracking the clicks and the whole program is so user friendly and transparent. I have been getting my cheques every month. Initially I was not serious about this and though I got my account way back in 2005, I never really used it. I put the code on 2-3 pages on my site and that was it. But then after I joined some webmaster related forums and seeing how people have made good money out of Google Adsense, I implemented the code in all the pages on my site and gradually the income is increasing every month and I am more than happy. Also the Google Referrals program is working good. Recently I have started with Kontera as well, and I am seeing some income from there as well, but I am waiting for the day when the Kontera income can reach upto my Google Adsese income.Just the way we have some google adsense optimisation tips and techniques, I think I must check out the same for Kontera too. I will keep the Kontera updates posted.
And here is a tip for all the Google Adsense users. Try to use link units on every page. They are the most clicked sections, provided that the link units are placed well on your sites.
People bid adieu to Ganpati Bappa
After 10 days of celebrations, Tuesday was the day when people said goodbye to Lord Ganesha. Ganesh Chaturthi(Ganesh Festival) is a day on which Lord Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvati, is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees.
Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, is widely worshipped as the supreme god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune.Ganesh festival is the biggest festival for Maharashtra and it is indeed a good experience to go and visit each pandal and see the beautiful decoration done.
During the Ganesha festival, a household worships a statue of Shri Ganesha. The worship lasts an odd number of days.Public celebrations of the festival are hugely popular, with local communities trying to put up the biggest idol and the biggest show to attract more and more visitors. On the last day of the celebration, large procession are organized and the Ganesha idols are immersed in the river or ocean. All join in this final procession shouting “Ganapathi Bappa Morya, Purchya Varshi Laukariya” (O father Ganesha, come again early next year).
These are some of the photos I took during my visit to various pandals during the Ganesha festival.
