Pagerank is analagous to the Twitter of the SEO world. Everyone wants a piece of the action, but very few get how to leverage it. In the following post, we discuss what it is, how to use it, and what tactics to avoid.

Pagerank Defined:

For all its mystery and sinister reputation, it can be explained in one line: how likely is someone to end up on your webpage? Back in the day, Google wanted a way to show how likely it was for a “random surfer” to end up on your webpage. Later on, they realized that no one browses the internet by clicking links randomly, its all driven by intent, and fixed their model. Modern pagerank is the result of that.

The more BIG websites linking to your brainchild, the better your pagerank and the better you tend to fare–and I say this with the utmost emphasis on ‘tend’.There are plenty of webpages out there with garbage Pagerank that still place within the top 3 search results in their respective fields. Most of the time, however, a link from a popular page will drive significant traffic to your door, thereby increasing the likelihood that your page is visited, and thus increasing Pagerank.

Synopsis: You care because Pagerank affects how well your search rank fares and the amount of traffic you receive by proxy.(Granted this is an extremely rough cut explanation: if you want technical details check out this excellent article from hubpages.)

The Care and Feeding of Your Pagerank:

Building Pagerank is just as much about social networking as it is about avoiding pitfalls. Like all things worth having, Pagerank is something you must accumulate gradually over the course of years through your persistent, attentive pruning.

Here are the top 3 ways to grow your page rank:

1. Be social. It’s a popularity contest. All the content in the world won’t help you if you’ve got zero web presence. Comment on other sites, send out emails, talk to people for the sake of talking. The links will follow.

2. Name dropping. Whenever you’re given the opportunity to refer your readership to a valuable resource or alternative perspective, or even a reference, USE IT. Most web savvy individuals check their analytics compulsively. They’ll know when you link to them. The nice ones will link back.

3. Link to yourself. Pagerank flows from page to page, as it does from site to site. You can distribute and grow your Pagerank, tailoring it to the pages you want to get the most exposure by tweaking your internal linking (You can test out any potential effects of link Pagerank sculpting here). Additionally, the more pages that Google indexes from your site, the higher your maximum Pagerank. The fastest way to ensure your entire site gets index is by sending your xml sitemap to Google.

Synopsis: Communicate to your web community: if your site sells leather goods, its time to start posting in biker forums. Go to town on the linking process: link to as many outside sources as you can—preferably your newfound biker friends. Submit your sitemap to all the major search engines so they can index your ENTIRE site. Finally, channel your pagerank to the desired pages through creative linking.

This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things:

Here are a few obstacles that you’ll want to avoid when growing your Pagerank.

1. Buying links. Not gonna lie. It’s possible to buy links from big sites to increase your PR. Google usually catches on pretty quickly, however and removes any potential benefits. You’re better off saving your money.

2. Linking to shady sites. A good indicator is the lack of pagerank despite being online for awhile. These pages will drag you down with them. Do your homework before you accept those link exchange requests. If the site seems less than legit, just move on.

3. Traffic farming. Creating viral content is one of the fastest ways to generate fresh traffic. However if you rely on it soley, Google will take notice and penalize your efforts. Keep running those campaigns, but do so in moderation.

…And that about wraps up today’s lesson.
Till next time: stay classy.

HTML5 is a huge overarching reworking of the HTML language. As a whole, the project is very much a matter of style. HTML5 is about removing the old, clunky bits of code (i.e. frames and plug-ins) and replacing them with smooth, browser-based alternatives.However, it should be thought of more as a series of suggestions on how people should code their websites rather than programming language upgrade. Only those who opt in and insert the requisite code will need to worry about the technical aspects.

Nevertheless the issue is already a raging battleground with Apple and Google on one end and Adobe Systems and Microsoft on the other. The lines have been drawn and the swords are out. Google recently dropped development on its Google Gears project to help push HTML5 along, while Adobe and Microsoft continue to fight to keep Flash and Silverlight from the cold, shameful shadow of obsolescence.So what exactly does HTML5 do? Below, we’ve listed the features that are making the biggest splash.

1) Independence from media plug-ins:

This is the unmistakably the headlining issue. As browsers grow increasingly complex, sites running HTML5 will have the freedom to provide immersive multimedia experiences to users without the need for plug-ins or add-ons.

Why you should care: You’ll never need to install another plug-in for a HTML5 site to function optimally. Audio and video tags will access multimedia content directly through a site instead of through an intermediary program like Flash. This’ll mean a cleaner, faster browsing experience and a lot less coding for you web designers out there.Does this mean we’ll see a flash-free version of YouTube in the future? From the look of it, the plan is already in the works.http://www.youtube.com/html5

2) Offline Storage:

Once HTML5 becomes more widely employed, websites be able to store bigger chunks of data locally (on your hard drive). This will allow for offline access to various websites and databases.

Why you should care: Offline access has always been the stumbling block for email services and web applications. If implemented correctly, HTML5 will allow these services to run in even the most inhospitable 3G-free environments.You won’t be able to send any emails, but at least you’ll be able to see that top secret message your hacker friend sent you right before SkyNet took over. Now you can finally remove Microsoft Outlook from your computer. Huzzah!

3) Geolocation:

This is rapidly becoming the buzzy must-have function of hour. Strictly speaking, geolocation just feeds your current coordinates to a page or service. That’s it.

Why you should care: It’s up to each website to get creative: whether it’s finally updating that clunky store locator so it will do its job in a single click or creating a fully functional web based GPS, the possibilities here are truly exciting.That said, there are really only two stances you can take on the issue and they are:

HTML5 WILL DESTROY THE INTERNET

Implementing a new standard has been tried time and time again and all it causes is increasingly more complex systems to deal with outmoded websites. Even if HTML5 has a positive effect on the internet, it’s just ONE MORE format that browsers will need to deal with.

I AM FOND OF HTML5. <3

The project isn’t about converting everyone at once. Once everyone sees the potential of the new web standards, everyone will want a hip shiny new site in the same vein and web fragmentation will cease to be an issue for the most relevant sites. No one visits older, poorly maintained pages anyway.

Like it or not, the momentum  seems to be with HTML5, as sites like worldwide have already begun adoption. Here are a few more HTML5 sites to tide you over till next time.

http://www.techmic.com/

http://www.marine-gold.jp/

http://www.techniqueretreat.com/

Which side are you on?
Leave your comments below!Barefoot. Out.

Twitter’s new integration scheme has made it easier than ever manage your social media marketing campaigns. Following setup (instructions below), with one simple click you will be able to communicate your micro-message across multiple platforms simultaneously. In a generation where speed is everything, Twitter is quickly becoming an indispensable tool. Now compatible with Facebook, LinkedIN, and Evernote (to name a few), integration will allow your message to populate across platforms every time you post a new tweet.

Here’s how to set it up:

TWITTER FOR YOUR PERSONAL PROFILE:

1. Create a Twitter account, here.
2. Follow this link. You should see a prompt similar to the following:



3. Click allow.
4. Login to your Twitter account and tweet away!

TWITTER FOR YOUR FAN PAGE:

Follow this link. You should see a prompt similar to the following:


1. DO NOT CLICK INSTALL.
2. Go to http://facebook.com/pages/manage
3. Click ‘Edit Page’ beneath the name of your Fan Page
4. Find ‘Twitter for Pages’ in your Applications list and click the pencil icon
5. Click ‘Edit’
6. Allow Involver to install.

Though this isn’t highly advisable as the social media applications of Twitter and LinkedIn don’t really overlap, we’ve included a tutorial just in case you decide to do it anyway. We know how stubborn you are.



1. Create a Twitter account here.
2. On LinkedIn: Scroll to the bottom right-hand corner of the page and look for the [ + Add an Application ] box.
3. Hover over the box, scroll down the resulting menu and click “Tweet” (left thumbnail)
4. Click the “Add application” button (right thumbnail)
5. Login to your Twitter account via LinkedIn.
6. Choose the settings that best suit your needs.

1. Create and login to your Twitter account.
2. Go to this URL: http://twitter.com/badges



3. Pick where you want to place your Twitter Widget.
4. Select the look and options that best suit you.
5. Copy and paste the code provided into the body of your site.

Once you’ve completed any of the above operations, you’ll be able to update your Twitter and synchronized account simultaneously through Twitter.com.

Created by Lunascape, Inc. in San Jose, CA, the Lunascape browser allows users to incorporate the functionality of three of the world’s most popular web browsers into a single versatile shell. New users will find that they can not only instantly toggle between the Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Chrome browsers, but also customize their browsing experience from a huge database of plugins.Lunascapers can pick and choose from their favorite extensions for BOTH IE and FF, which is one of Lunascape’s handful of truly unique and innovative functions.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been waiting for browsers to develop the ability to tile, cascade, and arrange multiple tabs within the same window. Downloading and running multiple browsers simply for the sake of comparison was always a hassle, but invariably necessary as part of any good web development or design job.

If you’re still running to and fro across your office, looking for a computer with an old version of IE to test your new layout, your days of involuntary exercise are finally over.Lunascape provides a service much like BrowserShots, in that it allows you to view a page across multiple concurrent browsers, however where BrowserShots falters, Lunascape rallies–granting users some much needed interactivity.

Thanks, San Jose.

The software is still beta testing, so naturally there are a few kinks to be worked out. For instance, the browsing experience can get a little unstable when running multiple browser types on particularly media heavy sites.

Despite its shortcomings, Lunascape 6 already shows vast improvements in speed, reliability, and function compared to its predecessor—and if it continues to evolve at the impressive speed it’s currently maintaining, we’ll be the first in line to make the switchover.

The thoughtful design and versatility of the software are what really help it shine. Lunascape enables any page in the net to be associated with any of the provided browsers, allowing you to fully optimize your web experience such that you’ll never need more than a single browser ever again. It even comes pre-programmed to support mouse gestures to make your browsing experience seamless and streamlined like never before.

The Lunascape browser shows a lot of promise, and we eagerly await the final product.If you’re itching to test a fresh copy, free downloads are available on the company’s homepage!

So you just started this whole blogging business on the side, and now streams of visitors show up at your virtual doorstep every day, demanding flash media and video content. You’re feeling ready to embrace a larger audience and maybe redesign your homepage, but aren’t really sure what direction to go.

We’ve got what you need. Barefoot Solutions has picked through dozens of articles to deliver the cream of the crop for your consumption.

BY FAR the MOST IMPORTANT component of a high caliber blog. You can’t become a rockstar without fans. Make friends with other bloggers and win over some of their traffic:
•    Link to other blogs
•    Comment on their posts
•    Feature guest writers

Most serious bloggers check Google Analytics religiously, so they’ll know, with startling immediacy, when you interact with them in the slightest way. The nice ones will pay you a visit or ideally even link you back.

From there, your glowing prose and dazzling personality will hook new traffic and grant you the worshipful readership you’ve always dreamed of.

Want the nitty gritty of link building? Vandelay Design offers 9 ways to make sure you’re linking where it counts.

This is how it’s done: VentureBeat.com - Think your page already has enough links? VentureBeat has 944,506 incoming links from other webpages. Well, 944,507 now. The staff’s amazing networking ability has no doubt played a major role in launching this page into the top 100 Technorati Blogs.

The simplest explanations are usually best. Keep it a quick and fresh. If you can’t say it in a few paragraphs, save it for another article or trim the fat.

Keep in mind: bullets, top 10 lists, and short blocks of text are your friends.

I’m confused. Examples? DaringFireball.net - Extreme minimalist design. This page only has 2 images…and one of them is a search button. The result is amazingly clean, professional, and easy on the eyes.

The more time you take to manufacturing an appealing (read: glowing, abstract, and AHDH-friendly) interface, the more likely you are to be well received.

TIP I: If you use a lot of colors it will tend to make your site look cluttered. Take a little time, pick a 2-3 color theme with good contrast, and stick to it.

TIP II: The best looking websites will take an idea and apply it to every last detail and aspect of their design. Always think about how adding or subtracting from your blog will impact your theme.

A study conducted by Dr. Gitte Lindgaard found that it takes users 0.05 seconds to decide if they enjoy looking at your site. Not sure where your page falls on the spectrum of attractiveness? Check out WebSiteOptimization.com for examples.

Emulate me: OurWorld – Winner of the Best Blog Design Weblog Award 2008. This page tactfully combines beautiful high resolution banner images with an understated low color saturation theme, sleek fonts, and hot javascript action for an amazing webpage that just sucks you in, eyes first.

According to Giancarlo Gallegos from BlogCatalog, we click because we believe we have something to gain from it—whether it is knowledge, pleasure, or LOLCATS, clicking requires a clear motive.

Give people a reason to click through to your blog by creating a unique spin on overblogged topics. To quote Dawn Foster:

“You can talk about a news story that other people are blogging about, but spend some time writing about your experiences and ideas that offer a different perspective than the rest of the crowd. Use research in new ways, interview interesting people, and talk about your experiences. By offering something new, people are much more likely to read your blog post and link to it, which is where the real SEO magic is found.”

Brush off that storyteller’s cap. Y’all got some yarn spinnin’ to do.

Now this is writing: RoughType - While the layout isn’t much to look at, Nicholas Carr’s blog is the perfect example of a content driven blog. The homepage has a mindblowing PageRank of 7.0 – this one man has accumulated the same net authority as the COMMUNITIES of Yelp and Metacafe. Be amazed.

Google Analytics and Google Webmaster are amazing for visitor tracking, sculpting page rank, and otherwise refining your blog in ways you would have never thought possible.

Once you’ve mastered the skills, you’ll be able to pinpoint the “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”, and probable “why” of every last click and page-view on your blog. Did we mention you can run customized analytics and test multiple versions of your blog simultaneously? No? It’s awesome.

If you’re looking for a nice springboard into the world of analytics, Google has graciously provided a quick tutorial to get you started. Hop to it!

Serious Skills: SethGodin’s Blog – So what’s so special about Seth Godin? His blog ranks #12 on google’s search for “blog”. While normally ranking on page 2 is sort of unimpressive, this page trumps roughly 2.3 BILLION other search results: including the official Whitehouse and Facebook blogs as well as BLOGS.COM. HE OUTRANKED A PAGE WITH BLOG in the URL. SEO. Learn to love it.

By now you’ve inevitably heard of it. Every here and again, you hear mention of its function, little blips on the radar of the collective consciousness that is the Internet. And yet, despite the articles and buzz, people are don’t seem to be able to pick out Google Wave from a hole in the wall.

At first glance Google Wave is every marketing executive’s wildest fantasy come true. The service is exclusive, offered by media darling Google, and the description is so laden with buzzwords that it seems like a sure-fire win. Unfortunately in the process of self promotion, Google has overwhelmingly succeeded in making themselves a product that borders on impossible to describe and to some extent, comprehend.

To give some sense of just how brain wrenching the project is, consider the following: Google published a tutorial video in an attempt to explain its brain child. At just a shade over an hour and 20 minutes, the video is roughly the length of your average romantic comedy. Regrettably, by the end, most viewers would still be hard pressed to summarize the service in a sentence or less.

Google Wave was released under the same invite program that helped build up hype for Gmail. Currently there are roughly 100,000 users testing the service, however, new users can only register through invitations they receive from current users or Google itself.

Consistent with Google’s previous policy, Wave is an open source project—meaning it will be increasingly more customizable and polished over time. So far it looks like their invitation for development has been well received. Open-sourcers are already looking to jump on the bandwagon, going so far as to bid on invitations to the service so they have a head start over their competitors.

As you read, prices for Wave invites on eBay have begun to climb. The highest offering already hangs at a steep $200 per account.

So why all the hype? Why are people paying hundreds of dollars for a service that’s still in its testing stage? Just what in the heck is this thing? In summation, users can invite other users to their “wave” which is a bit like a chat room in the sense that users can use it to communicate live. Users can submit, edit, and comment on content in the form of text, pictures, videos, Google maps windows, or even games. Everything is updated on a near realtime basis, thereby making collaboration and social interaction the real core function of this service.

However, Wave is still much more than that. The fact that the service is open source means that its potential applications are really limitless.

Provided someone takes the time to program an extension for it, Wave will allow for users to incorporate ANYTHING, and we do mean ANYTHING—even other websites, in your wave.

In many ways, Google Wave is a project with such myriad functions, that it’s very difficult to pin down and categorize. This sort of thing has never been done before and because of that, it defies explanation. Whereas most services will focus on performing one function extremely well, Wave seems to do everything communication-related at once and the end result is understandably tough put into words.

It is email, it is AIM, it is the wealth of information and entertainment that makes up the internet integrated into a single platform. It is everything and simultaneously nothing more than a blank canvas.

Wave was developed by a group of engineers who were essentially left to their own devices for months of development time and it shows in the resulting product. There’s no clear product, only amorphous potential.

Google has a real challenge ahead in marketing their new toy—and until they can figure out how to describe it in less than an hour and twenty minutes, the public will likely stay confused on the subject. Fortunately, WhirledInteractive has taken a step in the right direction, and released their own explanation of Wave. They aren’t the only ones. LifeHacker recently sent out a call for the best real life applications of Wave and hundreds responded with some of the most innovative things we’ve seen.

The Google team needs to take a page out of this book and present a marketing campaign that’s as creative as their product.

Better thank your lucky stars. On October 5th, Adobe announced a workaround to the iPhone’s complete incompatibility to Flash. The company showcased a handful of apps, developed in Flash and directly converted to a fully functional iPhone compatible form, in front of a live audience at the annual Adobe Max event in San Francisco.

In enabling the channels of conversion, Adobe has opened the floodgates for ever greater volumes of 3rd party applications.

Now it’s anyone’s game—provided you can make it past Apple’s heavy-handed censors. By using Flash Pro CS5 (slated for public beta later this year), aspiring developers might finally get their very own piece of the much-sought-after Apple pie.

The iPhone/Flash incompatibility has long served as a source of annoyance for many a user: causing anything from minor style disruption to the total catastrophic failure of entire websites. Over the past decade, Flash has grown from amusing novelty to one of the primary mediums of content delivery on the internet.

Flash is used to power everything from animated ads, to video players (the likes of which have granted YouTube and Hulu their runaway success), to full on media platforms from which complex applications can be run—all on a lightweight, easy-to-install standalone program.

So why hasn’t Apple included Flash functionality on the iPhone? Due to the nature of the Flash player, it would, to be blunt, cut into Apple’s profits. Apple is currently maintaining something of a totalitarian regime over the software and hardware rights to its creations. Users can only gain additional content by purchasing it through the Apple regulated iTunes store…and Apple aims to keep it that way.

So will you ever be able to stream that new trailer off MovieFone? Don’t bank on it.

The Flash player actually violates the Apple Terms of Service, in fact any sort of plug-in to the Safari Browser would represent a breech in contract. But it’s a start, and with greater pressure to ease up on content restrictions arising from competition like the Google Android, it’s only a matter of time before Apple is forced to reconsider its policies.

However, with html 5 in full swing, the need for dynamic content plug-ins like Flash and SilverLight is significantly reduced—potentially to the point of obsolescence. Html 5’s design means that the potential and power behind web apps freshly created on its platform will be unparalleled: faster, more immersive, and ever closer to being indistinguishable from their offline brethren. To date, Apple, Google, Mozilla, and even Microsoft are doing their best to promote it.

With the lines already drawn, it’s going to be a tough, uphill battle for Adobe.

Is it time to ditch your Flash books in the closest dumpster and move on? Has Flash become so prevalent that it’s now an irreplaceable Internet staple? Look for Barefoot Solutions to weigh in on the debate soon.

In the meantime, let the games begin.

Internet behemoth Google recently released an expansion to the Google toolbar, designed to give the online community the opportunity to submit unmoderated commentary in a collapsible side dock. Google calls its new creation the Sidewiki. It’s going to rock your world. Probably.

Users will be able to comment however they want, on whatever site they wish once they install the add-on. For example, a user wishing to leave his 2-cents on a CNN web article could simply type up his assessment, hit submit, and provided his comment met Google regulations, have his words immediately published. Similarly, comments can only be viewed if the add-on has been installed and the viewer is on a page where comments have been left.

While statistics show that the toolbar has been downloaded at least 2 million times from CNET alone, it is difficult to estimate just how many individuals actually know about, and moreover utilize the Sidewiki service provided by Google. However, if it ever reaches the mainstream—and there is a good chance of that, given the successful history of Google’s other product offerings—the potential for promotion, testimonials, and hidden goodies will probably prove too much for any good marketing business to ignore.

Ideally, this new add-on would grant individuals another medium through which it could provide invaluable third-party insight on hitherto unregulated e-businesses. Whether to sound the alarm on an attack page, to trumpet accolades to a well designed site, or give forum to a particularly thought provoking concept, the direction of the entire process would be determined by the masses.

And yet, therein lies the problem. The freedom it fosters will forever be its defining redemption, its potential for abuse will forever be it’s Achilles’ heel. It’s far too early in the game to tell whether or not the service will function as it was designed or become, like so many of its predecessors, a cesspool of virtual graffiti. (However, if the early, tentative test runs of the Side Wiki are any indication, the tone will be civil, constructive, and uncharacteristically reserved.)

Google claims that comments will be filtered and regulated in much the same way that search results are ranked for relevance. The more pertinent the topic, the higher it will be ranked by fellow users, thereby allowing it to float above the chaff, trash talk, and pointless spamming that tends to plague similar services. Irrespective, if you own a site, its probably a good idea to comment on your own page first so that you can set in motion a more positive precedent and block the potential hard-to-remove negativity spiral.

Understandably, a good number of businesses have already begun to raise protest at the thought of having the gateway to a torrential downpour of virtual anarchy unleashed upon their websites without permission. Never before has the public realm been granted such immediacy in its ability to deliver feedback. Users no longer need to navigate away from the page to read reviews, rather any evaluation, good or bad, is now literally a click away.

However, this isn’t to say this is a bad thing. People prefer to reference like-minded individuals before making a big decision–so in some senses the SideWiki is poised to become a sort of proxy for quality control like the BBB or veriSign Security button.

There’s potential for something great. Whether that manifests as another layer of detritus or as an invaluable tool hinges on how Google chooses to develop its brainchild. Fingers crossed.

If you’ve never heard of ZURB, don’t be surprised, the company has kept an unusually low profile. However over the years, ZURB has risen to the level of an industry standard, attracting clients from the likes of Britney Spears and Zazzle, to internet heavy-weights like eBay, Facebook, and Yahoo. Their latest contribution to the world of design brings to the table a product that serious web entrepreneurs have been itching to take out for a spin.

A few days ago, the team unveiled what will likely become an indispensable tool for professional web designers everywhere. It’s called Notable, and it makes online collaboration easier and more effective than ever. If you’ve ever struggled to find the words to specify the slightest detail of a design; if you’ve ever had a painful conference call where the locations of each potential change need to be spelled out in extended detail before any actual discussion could begin; if you’ve ever waited till the odd hours of the night so you can properly interface with an overseas design team–then you already know: this new service changes everything.

While there are a variety of service packages available for purchase, Notable is also thankfully available as a 30 day free trial or a barebones, free bundle for those who want to get their feet wet before taking the pricey dive to pay to play. The free package allows for 3 simultaneous users, 3GB of online storage, iPhone support, and one Virtual Desktop on which to work. Once you’ve signed in, Notable allows you to post screenshots, mockups, or even straight code from your website for other users to evaluate and comment on. Notable gives you full control of over who gets access to your project and even throws in a nifty design history tracker so you always know where you’re headed and exactly how and why you’re headed there.

The ZURB team has even published Notable as a firefox plugin or iphone app so you can get feedback on your page whenever and wherever you want.

Want to learn more? Planning on using Notable until the day you die? Head on over to the site.

Students log directly into their profiles to create, edit, and review their customized planner.  When they first log in (and at other specific intervals) the CAP application asks students a set of questions and uses their answers to build a multilayered college admissions and recruiting plan. Another important tool within the CAP application is one of Barefoot Solutions previous projects with Headfirst, the HCAT locker.  The HCAT locker is an online searchable database with articles that Headfirst’s experienced team has compiled over the years to help students wade through the college admissions process.

CAP was developed using the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) and offers full integration with a payment gateway as well as content management tools to make for easy updates moving forward.  Both teams at Barefoot Solutions and Headfirst are extremely excited about the potential of this application, and look forward to seeing the impact it has on the lives of aspiring athletes.