SEO Expert, Evangelist and SEO Consulting Services - Tony Adam

Brandchannel.com reported their Top Brands of 2006, you can take a look at the article here, http://brandchannel.com/start1.asp?fa_id=352.  Interestingly enough in the Global top 5 and in the US/Canada top 5, 4 of them are Technology companies.  While the Global list is topped by Google, in the U.S. and Canada we see that Apple takes the top spot!  I guess they are selling a few of those Macbook’s and iPod’s!

Recently I have been trying to get into the swing of reading up on articles in my time off, getting back into SEO/SEM and blogging.  Soon enough I will try to enter the podcasting and vlog world as well.  That being said I have enjoyed blogging everytime I get a chance to and decided to write about blogging.

(Okay, side note, for those of you that are already blogging up a storm, post some comments and tips for others!!  I’m sure they’ll appreciate it and plus, you might get another reader! ;-)…) Continue Reading »

Just downloaded the Firefox 2 update today and gave it a test drive and wanted to take a look at a couple features that I noticed. So, here are a few things that I noticed and some things that you might not actually see.

• “Visual Look and Feel” is much nicer and does have a new and cool feel to it.
  
• Search - The Search box by the address bar will recommend searches for you as you start typing, this is pretty cool in my opinion…I am always looking for things that make life easier!
  
• Tabs - Tabs are sooooo much better now, as links will open new tabs instead of new windows and each tab has a “close” button.
  
• Recovering lost browser sesssions
• Feed handling
• Increased Security through extensions and phishing protection that is built in.

That is all I have for now. Unlike the major differences between IE 6 and IE 7 (Microsoft was WAAAAY behind) there wasn’t really a MAJOR UI change that you could notice other than the tabs. Firefox is in my opinion at this point, light-years ahead of IE7. Sorry Microsoft, you fell short again!

Since I have had some free time lately I’ve been looking for cool new IM and utility type apps for the Motorola Q.  I have come across the Qusers (www.qusers.com) and it has been a good resource for me, so I just wanted to pass it along to any other Motorola Q users.  Any others, feel free to comment and discuss!

Well I’ve got a pretty packed weekend ahead of me. I will definitely be attending BarCampLA-2 this weekend and it will be my first look at a Technology UnConference, this should be super exciting. There will be topics like a panel on “Do’s and Don’ts of Startups,” digital media, web/software development, etc. I am really amped for the opportunity to see all of the presentations and I might just end up presenting myself!

Pubcon, Pubcon. Pubcon…need I say more?! The top yearly conference for SEO, SEM, Affiliate Marketing, and so much more. Put on by WebMasterWorld and sponsored by the likes of Google, Yahoo!, Ask.com, and Opera. It is definitely the premiere event for web geeks! Here is a link to some history http://www.pubcon.com/history.htm.

Hey everyone,

Okay Okay! It’s been a while since I have posted any updates to the site!! I’ve been suuper busy and swamped! But, I have an update for the location and dates for BarCampLA!

It will be held at LittleRadio in Downtown Los Angeles!…So…here is the address:

1218 Long Beach Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90021

Check out the following Links:
Google map, Yahoo! Map ; photos ; video

Also, I will update you guys on the times and such as they become available, dont forget to visit the BarCampLA-2 website for more information about the event and to sign up if you would like to participate!!

Okay, for those of you that use Mac OS X read on if you haven’t found a good content syndication reader yet, but for those of you using Windows, stay tuned, I will be posting another blog entry for you folks!

So, a while ago I was told by a friend (James Payne) that I should pick up Newsfire and it is worth the $20 it costs. Well, back then I wasn’t really that intrigued by it, until I realized how much time I was spending going from site to site just to check out my subscriptions, whether its MSDN, Search Engine Watch, etc. I decided it was time to give it a shot and I am pretty amped about it now. I figured it was time to blog about how much I love it!

Why do I love it you ask? Well, first and foremost, I am a sucker for sexy looking apps and just like the site says, its the “Angelina Jolie of applications,” now people, THAT IS SAYING SOMETHING! Also, the ability to have groups is amazingly cool. I love group my technology, sports, etc. RSS feeds into the appropriate group so I know what I am looking at. Finally, podcasting, Newsfire brings podcasting ability to the reader and is fully integrated with iTunes, just a click away.

There is a ton of other functionality like searching feeds and podcasts, smart feeds, etc. But, hands down this is one application I would definitely spend the money on and it saves me a ton of time, and lets face it, in this day and age, time is money!! Three Cheers to Newsfire!!

So, I have finally decided that tomorrow (hopefully) will be the day I give myself a crash course in Ruby On Rails. I have been browsing the web today, on and off, trying to find some good resources and I found a couple good ones.

To start with, obviously the Ruby On Rail’s Website has some great information and tutorials to get the ball rolling for you, along with the API, and user groups.

O’Reilly put up a tutorial called, Rolling with Rails and a Part II of this called, Rolling with Rails, Part 2. These are both good resources, and more geared towards windows users. (I prefer Rails in a MAC / *nix environment).

Finally, an interesting one (and entertaining too!) that I ran across was called “Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby”.

So far, I have just browsed through these and these seem like the best to get on the right track! (No Pun Intended!). Leave some feedback if you have any other great resources for rails on Mac OS X or even in a Windows environment. I will definitely post some more once I have delved deep into the language.

Recently i’ve been involved in a few Agile Development type projects and companies that have used this approach.  I have mixed reviews on the matter and believe it can work, but only in certain situations.

The situations I have seen agile development work is when there is a clear idea of where the end product should be and can be iterated through over time.  The agile model is fantastic in this approach because it gives the end client or user a chance to watch the product move through stages.  Also, the development team and client have an idea of where the product will end up.  Also, I have seen agile development work in the situation where clients or management have no real definition of where the end product should be and need an iterative approach to get to that end product.  Note, that this only works out the best when they are understanding that it could be a VERY major process and take quite a long time.

Now, I have seen agile development purely tank and not work at all in another situation.  That situation is when there is no clearly understood end product in mind from the get go.  Once again, we must note that in these situations, there is a probability that this approach could go over well.  But, when you have driving forces, such as management and budgets, it is clearly, in my mind, impossible.  Agile projects require iteration and although they require this, there STILL must be some architecture and planning involved from the begin stages, even if it is minimal at best. 

In closing, I do not want this article to seem like I am bashing the agile development model, because, truth be told, I loved managing the MyTripz project and it was one of the best experiences thus far.  But, I believe that the agile method was used in a way that the customer was made clear of the approach and was very open and understanding the end product features and deliverables.  So, all in all, for those of you out there using the agile development method, GOOD LUCK to you and Good Day! =D

I’ve been getting spammed TONS lately on myspace by webcam girls, porn, web designers, etc. Everything from Messages to Friend Request to Event Invitations! It’s been getting tiresome, but none-the-less still very tolerable. I am actually linking this to the similarity of E-mail spam that we started to get, way back in day. It started trickling in, pouring in, and now, I am wondering if the flood gates are opening up! Hopefully this can be brought under control, unfortunately, if not, it might be a major negative in the myspace camp!