Ten Websites That Will Help You This Thanksgiving.

With the thanksgiving approaching, many of us are looking forward to spending time with family/friends, re-establishing old traditions and eating lots food. On the flip side, many of us are dreading traffic & flight delays, the annoying relative or in-law, and the weight scale the next day. So, in the spirit of thanksgiving we decided to come up with a list of websites that will help guide you through this holiday.

1. Still looking for that "signature" dish to make for thanksgiving? A visit to allrecipes.com will not only give you inspiration but the delicious recipe for the dish as well. http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/holidays-and-events/Thanksgiving/

2. Need that perfect bottle of wine to serve with thanksgiving dinner? Checkout Food and Wine's 10 Top Thanksgiving Bottles. http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/holiday-wine-game-plan-10-top-thanksgiving-bottles

3. Maybe, you need a stiff holiday drink to deal with that annoying relative or in-law . Here are seven cocktails, courtesy of American Bartenders School. http://www.barschool.com/bartending-blog/thanksgiving-holiday-cocktail-drink-recipes

4. Flying home for thanksgiving? Checkout the FAA Flight Delay Information website for real-time airport delay information. http://www.fly.faa.gov/flyfaa/usmap.jsp

5. Planning a road trip? Checkout NAVTEQ real time traffic alerts and traffic reports website. http://www.traffic.com/

6. Football on thanksgiving is a tradition. The two go hand in hand, like peanut butter and jelly. See what is on store for this years games. http://www.nfl.com/thanksgiving/story?id=09000d5d8045a5e3&template=without-video&confirm=true

7. Discover the humble origins of Thanksgiving holiday traditions with facts from history.com. http://www.history.com/content/thanksgiving

8. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade Official Website – A true classic. http://social.macys.com/parade2009/

9. Tips To Avoid Overeating On Thanksgiving from livefitblog.com. Wait…is that possible?? http://livefitblog.com/2009/11/23/tips-to-avoid-overeating-on-thanksgiving/

10. Thanksgiving decoration ideas from Better Homes and garden. http://www.bhg.com/

Happy Thanksgiving!

Search Engine Optimization: <Title> Tag Tips

When it comes to SEO, the meta title tag is one of the most important factors influencing search engine ranking algorithms. Search engines use the title tag to provide a link to the site matching the user's search. Fixing a site’s title tag can lead to higher rankings and provide a fast and effective way to increase your search engine rankings.

How long should a <title> tag be?

According to the W3C, there is no limit to the size of a webpage title; however, you should keep your webpage title to less than 64 characters. Most search engine results pages have a maximum number of characters they will display before the title is truncated. Google will display up to 69 Characters, Bing will display up to 65 Characters, and Yahoo display up to 72 Characters – and "yes" spaces count.

What should be in <title> tag?

Your title tag should be well written, properly identify the theme of that particular page, and include one or several of your most important keyword(s). Your most important keyword(s) should appear in the beginning of the title tag, and also appears in a heading tag or bold at the top of the page. To save space and speed up searching, some search engines exclude common words or "stop words" from their index. You should avoid using stop words in your title tag, such as 'The', 'or', 'in', 'it'.

Lets look at a fictitious Maryland painting company, ABC Painting that would like to optimize their website for searches relevant to painting contractors in Maryland:

Some keywords that may be of interest would be:

Maryland Painting Contractors, MD Painting Contractors, House Painting Contractor Serving Maryland

Using the keywords above, we would consider the following titles for the home page;

• Title #1: Maryland Painting Contractors | ABC Painting
• Title #2: Painting Contractor Serving Maryland | ABC Painting
• Title #3: Maryland House Painting | ABC Painting

Keep your title tags unique and original.

Remember, title tags are used by search engines to classify and process your website content. Using different keyword(s) or phrases in your title tags that properly identify the theme of that particular page will provide a fast and effective way to increase your search engine rankings.

A Step By Step Guide: How to set up Google Analytics on Your Website.

If you are looking for a FREE and robust website traffic reporting solution for your website, Google Analytics may be the answer for you.

Google Analytics service provides website site owners and businesses a FREE, EASY and POWERFUL tool to help understand and monitor website traffic. In order to use Google Analytics service, you need to create a free account with Google Analytics or subscribe to Google Analytics using your existing Google account. Once you have done this, you will need to setup a website tracking profile for the site that you want to monitor and install the tracking code snippet onto all of the pages you want to track. Follow these four Easy steps below to unlock to power of Google Analytics today!


Step 1: Create an Account with Google Analytics.

• Open a web browser and open Google Analytics Official Website: http://www.google.com/analytics/

• Sign in to Google Analytics with your Google Account or Create A Free Account.

Step2: Setup Website Tracking Profile

• From the Analytics Setting page, click on the "Add Website Profile".

• Select the "Add a Profile for a new domain" radio button and enter the website address in the textbox provided.

• Cost Source - If you are running a Google Pay-Per-Click Campaign, you are able to tie Google Analytics to your Pay-Per-Click Campaign Profile. This is optional.

Step 3: Add Tracking Code Snippet to your website pages

• Add Google Analytics tracking code snippet onto your website pages. You will need to do this for every page you want to track. Be sure to paste the code within the BODY tags.

Step 4: Review Tracking Information

• On the Website Tracking Profile, click on the website address you setup in Step 2, to launch the Google Analytics Dashboard.
  

NOTE: The "Tracking Status" column on the Website Tracking Profile page will provide you with the current status of your tracking code snippet and the last time your site was checked by Google. The status will read "validated" if everything was successful.