Google Tip of the Day: Submit your content to Google, and more…

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submit your content

I was pleased to see that Google made it really easy for webmasters to submit their content to Google’s Engines of Search. The page details almost every content-related site within Google that I can think of and is a valuable reference for would-be webmasters.

So if you are looking to get your website in Google’s search engine, you would certainly start with:

Step 1: Get Included

Add Your URL to Google’s Index
Submit your website for inclusion in Google’s index

Step 2: Webmaster Tools

Webmaster Tools
Submit a Sitemap of your website to Google

Step 3: Submit Your Blog

Blog Search
Make your blog searchable in Google’s blog index

 

To get your site additional traffic, you can also…

Step 4: Ping Your Blog

Pingomatic

Step 5: Ping Your Sitemaps, too.

You can also ping updated sitemaps (when you create a new page/post, for example).

Many of these have suitable plugins for Wordpress and automate the process. In fact, some features are already included in Wordpress. So I think Wordpress makes running a website easier and smarter than using Joomla.

Chris, this is for you as you are building your website! Hope it really turns into something great!

Ever seen gold like this? It’s yellow, soft and valuable!

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Gold is an exceptionally valuable commodity these days. To show that I already my own ‘stash’ in the bank vault, I’m happy to share this picture of our ‘wealth’.

yellow gold

In the West, I was used to seeing gold used in jewelery purely as one or even the largest component. When I first came to Taiwan, I was astonished how yellow (or ‘gold’) the was, and when I first got my gold wedding ring, how soft the metal actually is when it’s in nearly pure form. Most of the gold sold in China and Taiwan is of this type. Taiwanese especially value gold both for its beauty and its practicality. It’s easy to turn into cash.

Historically, there have been times when gold was perhaps the only store of true wealth here after the 2nd world war, during the tumultuous period of the Chinese Civil War, and so local people have traditionally valued it as a way to hedge their currency, protect their family ‘wealth’, and to carry easily, should the need arise.

I have no idea how much this is worth, but it’s probably not much. Christine received some gold as part of her wedding present, some of which is included here. It’s also traditional for brides and (to a lesser extent) and grooms to wear or flaunt as much gold as they can. Usually, some of the gold is presented to them, some is kept as part of the family wealth, and some may be ‘loaned’ from relatives.

Any idea how much this would be worth? I have my own estimates, but I have no idea how much the gold actually weighs. Perhaps one day, I’ll get it valued properly.

Toast, Coffee and a Crunchpad for Breakfast, Please

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I love to check my email in the morning, surf the newspapers a little, and catch up on the blogs. I usually do this over a cup of coffee and some toast for about the first 30 minutes each day. It’s my ritual.

crunchpad

Recently I started using an Acer AspireOne NetBook (as they are now called) to do this because, despite having a small screen, they turn on FAST, are small enough to balance on my knee, and bright enough to read clearly.

But, and the big but is this, they are still a traditional NOTEbook despite their small form factor, require a keyboard and mouse to operate, and are a pain in the butt if you want to get away from a notebook/desktop type setup even if only for breakfast.

Enter CrunchTablet (or dare I say, Crunchpad?)… a simple Tablet type device that would allow me to do pretty much all the things I now want to do over coffee, including surf, read email, and see the latest blog posts. Seems Michael Harrington is about to start selling them for a reasonable $300 per unit. Perhaps they’ll even be taking on the Kindles and Sony Readers of the world, too, as a platform for e-books and e-documents.