Tech, electronic, gadget Discussion

So you thought pop-ups were dead? Time to think again.

The new generation of hi-tech pop-up, also known as the Fly-In ad, is a massive breakthrough in fast moving world of internet marketing. Also known as floating, or dhtml windows

Many other forms of advertising such as ordinary pop-ups, pop-unders, banner ads and emails are not only consciously ignored by your casual internet user but also increasingly they are automatically filtered by browser technology. Ad blockers and pop-up blockers are no longer for those who buy separate tools but these are now built in to browsers like Internet Explorer and switched on by default. Current statistics are that 86% of normal pop-ups are being blocked by such software!

Hi-tech pop-ups provide an unexpected, fresh type of ad that instantly grabs people’s attention. Since these ads form part of the web page you are viewing they current cannot be filtered, so the ad is guaranteed to be delivered (unless javascript is turned off).

In addition, these ads can be configured so that they cannot be ignored. In these circumstances they must be physically viewed and actively closed before the visitor can proceed.

However, you still need to choose the application of this new technology wisely. The reason for the proliferation of pop-up and ad blockers is because people don’t want to see pop-ups or banner ads. It’s that simple. So when should you use these little marvels?

Well, using these hi-tech pop-ups you can emphasize parts of your website or your advertising but in a subtle way. A very popular use for this is to get people to opt-in to your mailing list. It’s not unknown for the careful use of a fly-in ad to increase signups to subscription services by a factor of 4, with some people claiming a ten-fold increase in quality signups.

These hi-tech ads are usually highly configurable, allowing you to specify the size, position, and image for the ad. There are some services that go one better, and allow you to specify the frequency of the ad and also more specific timings. For example, a large ad that the user has to click in, bang in the middle of the screen, could do more harm than good. Far better to:

1 – have the page load normally.

2 – have the ad “fly in” from the side after a second or two, to grab the visitor’s attention.

3 – take up a reasonable size in a less obtrusive part of the page.

4 – give a simple, relevant message such as “Click here to join our free mailing list”.

4 – fly out again after a few seconds if the visitor does not click on it.

5 – only show once per visit, or once per visitor.

You want the visitor to be interested in the ad, and want to read it, not have it drive them away from the site! The more sophisticated of these pop-ups will allow you to do all of these options plus more.

So with a little bit of technology and a bit of marketing savvy, it’s possible to harness the power of the internet once more and get your site converting visitors into all important sales.

Thereâ??s a new movement heating up the culinary scene: high tech cooking, also called molecular gastronomy. For many decades California Cuisine has thrived, with its focus on fresh, local, organic ingredients. Now chefs are focusing on a need for attention to preparation as well, and they are using scientific techniques, tools and exactitude. High-tech is now enabling greater results in high-end cooking.

High-tech chefs use equipment typically found in labs, such as thermal immersion circulators, rotary evaporators, dehydrators and vacuum sealers.

A rotary evaporator, also known as a â??rotavap,â? is an apparatus used in chemical laboratories for the efficient and gentle removal of solvents from samples by evaporation. One of the more popular brands of rotary evaporators is Buchi, and a peek behind the doors of a growing number of high-end kitchens will reveal a Buchi rotary evaporator. Chefs are using them to preserve flavors in liquids that would usually boil off in the cooking process.

As the focus of high-end cooking moves to sophisticated preparation techniques, chefs are turning to technology to control temperature as well. Equipment used by lab scientists to keep temperatures at a constant state, such as thermal immersion circulators manufactured by Buchi, are now found in more and more high-end commercial kitchens.

A thermal immersion circulator is a device that circulates warm fluid, and keeps the temperature of the fluid constant as opposed to heating the liquid quickly. The thermal immersion circulator is being used more and more by chefs hoping to create a more precise preparation of main courses such as chicken and fish. Chefs package food in a water-tight bag and immerse it in liquid. This process is completed at a lower temperature than cooking the product in an oven or on a stove top. The result is a tender, flavorful main course.

One leader in the field of molecular gastronomy is Dave Arnold, the French Culinary Instituteâ??s director of culinary technology. Regarding the use of thermal immersion circulators, Arnold has said, â??”For chefs, especially with fish, a matter of one or two degrees can have a huge effect.â?

In the same interview, Arnold continued, â??There are many food technologists and food scientists who have had technologies, ideas, procedures and ingredients under their belt for many years, but there has not been a pipeline between them and chefs. What we can do is parse out for chefs what will be good for them, go and find it in the industrial world, and help them apply it. If we can find some new gum or gel that will produce a particular effect in a sauce we’ll do it. Anything that controls temperature or humidity or slices, chops, blends or pulps in a new and different way is interesting to us. There are some people who like to say that they don’t want technology in the kitchen, that it takes away from the romantic notion of a chef tasting sauces and making adjustments here and there, that they’re less in touch with the food, but frankly I don’t think that’s the case. A great chef can cook an amazing meal with a stick and a fire, all these pieces of technology are just another tool in their toolkit.”

Gone are the days when people memorized website URLs to get the information or service they want. With the exception of a few popular websites like http://eBay.com, http://NBA.com, and http://CNN.com people have come to rely more and more on search engines to get to websites containing the information or service they need. Because of this, search engine optimization has become an invaluable tool in website design for people and companies to be able to reach their target audience. Without search engine optimization, even a quality website would find it difficult to reach a very wide audience.

Factors Affecting Page Rank

Search engine optimization (SEO) is simply the method of increasing a web site’s ranking in search engine results listing. According to an article by SEO experts, the top ten ranking factors that can influence a web document’s rank at the major search engines like Yahoo!, MSN, Google & AskJeeves for a particular term or phrase are the following: Title Tag, Anchor Text of Links, Keyword Use in Document Text, Accessibility of Document, Links to Document from within the Site (Internal Pages), Primary Subject Matter of Site, External Links to Linking Pages, Link Popularity of Site in Topical Community, Global Link Popularity of Site, and Keyword Spamming. Note, however, that although keyword density does affect page rank it is often frowned on as is considered to be a questionable technique when it is over 10 to 20% the actual content since it appears to be spamming then.

The Effect of Fresh Content in SEO

It is not enough for your website to apply the other SEO techniques like meta tag optimization and link analysis. Fresh content, meaning relevant content delivered on a regular basis is imperative to a successful SEO. Although not mentioned as one of the top ten ranking factor, one of the recurring factors affecting page rank mentioned in SEO articles is content. Not just any content but the freshness and consistency of content. Since it is a factor mentioned in many existing articles I’ve come across, common sense dictates that the freshness of content is indeed an important factor in page ranking. Major search engines like Google are known to rank pages not only according to the relevancy of the content but also according to how fresh the content is. Dated content can lower the page rank of an otherwise well designed website and ruin SEO efforts. A fresh content on the other hand will contribute to the success of search engine optimization.

Ways to Deliver Fresh Content on a Regular Basis

However for SEO to be successful the fresh content delivered by the website should be in a form that is readable to search engine. Ordinary content writers, of course wouldn’t know how to make their content readable by search engines. The good news is that there is no special effort needed on the part of content writer to make their content readable by search engines. All that is needed is a good dynamic, database driven content management system (CMS).

Content management systems might seem hard to manage but they are actually relatively easy once you get the hang of it and get past the learning stage. Learning to use them can, however, prove to be tricky. It is best to get the help of web developers when setting up a website’s content management system. CMSs are however very useful especially for websites with multiple users who can contribute to the site’s content. Mambo and PHPNuke are recommended for starters.

Another way to deliver fresh content at a regular basis is by using a weblog. Maintaining a weblog is an easy and cost effective way of updating your site. A good weblog should always be frequently updated, full of rich and informative articles, and should allow readers to post comments. According to an article by Matt Foster, aside from the ability to add fresh content regularly, a weblog integrated in your website will also achieve the following desirable results:

• It will increase the amount of inbound links to your website

• It will increase the frequency at which the web search engines will spider or crawl your website ( this is due to the frequent update in content )

• It will increase the interactivity for the web user; and

• It will ultimately improve your search engine ranking.

Two of examples of good easy to use blogging tools that can be integrated into websites are Blogger and WordPress.

For those who are a bit more tech savvy and know how to use Macromedia Dreamweaver, Dreamweaver is a design software that can help you update your website with more control. With Dreamweaver you can add or change not only the written content but the whole look from color schemes to fonts and even the layout of your website. But if you do not have a need for such control over your website and feel a bit daunted by Dreamweaver, Macromedia Contribute would be a good option. There are, of course other design software out there, which you can use.

The Importance of Fresh Content Beyond SEO

After learning how to regularly deliver fresh content to optimize your website’s rank it is important to know that its importance and effect to your website goes way beyond that. Aside from the success it contributes to SEO efforts, fresh content will not only get the website noticed by search engines but is imperative in keeping the website audience. People usually go on the net not just for relevant information but for timely information as well. After the search engines show a website as a result of a search string and people get to visit the site it is up to the fresh content to convince the people to keep on coming back to the site. If the website content is outdated and is updated rather infrequently and erratically, the chances of the target audience going back to the site on a regular basis, if at all, will be rather slim. Even the best SEO efforts will be wasted if the target audience decides that the website is not worth visiting. Therefore fresh content really is one of the keys to a successful SEO and thus a successful website.