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The Importance of Backlinks
Backlinks or "back links" are links from other web sites to your site. They're sometimes also known as incoming links. Why are they important? It just so happens that the major search engines such as Google and Yahoo place a high value on backlinks when deciding search ranking.

So if your site sells gardening tools, and there are hundreds of garden-related websites that link back to yours, Google is more inclined to give you a high ranking.

How to find backlinks to your site using Google

You can use link:yoursite.com

For more reliable results, type the following command into the Google search box:

yoursite.com -site:www.yoursite.com -site:yoursite.com

(Remember to type in your actual site, not "yoursite.com".)

Doing this shows you pages that link to your site, minus the links on pages on your own site.

(You'll also see sites that just mention your site but don't actually link to it.)

How to find more backlinks using Yahoo!

At Yahoo!, type this into the search box:

link:http://www.yoursite.com -site:www.yoursite.com

This search excludes internal links.

(Remember to type in your actual site, not "yoursite.com".)

Here's a refinement. For more extensive results, try this search:

linkdomain:www.yoursite.com -site:www.yoursite.com -site:yoursite.com

The above search includes links to ALL pages on your site, not just the main page.

Did You Know?
A Cuckoo Egg is an edited MP3 file that appears to be a copyright protected song being distributed via the Internet without the permission of the copyright owner. The initial portion of the song (first 30 seconds or so) will be of the real song. The remainder of the song however, has been overwritten by something other than the initial song; usually cuckoo clock sound effects or or a series of random sounds and noises which are free of any copyright ownerships. Cuckoo Eggs will have the correct file size and playing time as the original copyrighted MP3 file will have.

The Cuckoo Egg project was started to discourage people from trading copy protected music files online with Napster.

Courtesy of Webopedia
The Original 13 Rules of Basketball Exhibit at the NCAA Hall of Champions
March 15-20
St. Patrick's Day at The Claddagh Irish Pub
March 17, 19
Indy Swing Dance Club Super Saturday Jam
March 26
Damn Yankees at Indianapolis Civic Theater
various dates this month
Beauty and the Beast at Beef & Boards Dinner Theater
various dates this month

**April Preview**
Star Wars Celebration III Indiana Convention Center
April 21-24
Definition
of the Month
Courtesy of Webopedia.

 phishing - (fish´ing) (n.) The act of sending an e-mail to a user falsely claiming to be an established legitimate enterprise in an attempt to scam the user into surrendering private information that will be used for identity theft. The e-mail directs the user to visit a Web site where they are asked to update personal information, such as passwords and credit card, social security, and bank account numbers, that the legitimate organization already has. The Web site, however, is bogus and set up only to steal the user’s information.

Also referred to as brand spoofing or carding, it is a variation on “fishing,” the idea being that bait is thrown out with the hopes that while most will ignore the bait, some will be tempted into biting.
Congratulations Gwen!
Our congratulations to Gwen Mowery on her recent engagement to
Jared Tucher. They are planning to be married in 2006. Gwen, our Office Manager, joined the staff in the fall of '03. We wish her the best of luck!

Spam Control
How much of your e-mail is legitimate? If your business is like most, the answer is less than 30%. How much time do you spend every day deleting spam? It’s probably nearing 20 minutes per day. What is your biggest beef with spam: time?, money?, chance of accidentally deleting legitimate e-mail? To most of our clients, it’s the graphic nature of so much of it. Most people are offended when forced to view materials that they wouldn’t seek voluntarily.

There are several methods of handling spam. Each has it’s own benefits and challenges, but almost all are better than no spam protection at all. Let Promethius guide you to the best solution to meet your needs. This is certainly one area with no “one size fits all” solution. Just give us a call at 317/733-2388.

Be Wise About Junk Mail
While we all hate to receive Spam, each of us is most likely guilty of sending along some kind of junk mail to our contacts. Although our intentions may be sincere – we want our friends to be eligible for that $1,000 from Bill Gates – the truth is that most of these messages are hoaxes. We are perpetuating the problem by hitting that forward button.

We’ve mentioned this before, but don’t forget that a message is most likely a hoax if it asks you to forward to everyone that you know. Also, don’t assume that the person who signed it is a reliable source. It may say it’s from someone who’s a doctor (or, again, Bill Gates), but that can easily be forged.

There are several different categories of these deceptive email messages, according to the Hoaxbusters website. Some categories include Malicious Code (Virus and Trojan) Warnings, Give Aways and Inconsequential Warnings.

So what is the harm in sending these messages along, “just in case” they are legit?

  • People get enough junk mail from solicitors, and adding yours into the mix can annoy your friends and networking contacts.
  • Our credibility dwindles if we pass along inaccurate messages on a regular basis.
  • People may decide to block all incoming messages from you.

Keeping these ideas in mind can keep you on everyone’s “safe list”

  • Never pass along messages that are obvious chain letters. You will not have bad luck if you delete an email.
  • No company is going to track how many forwards are sent so they can donate money to a sick child or other cause.
  • If you think a forwarded joke is funny, only send it to others who you really think will appreciate it. Don’t send a mass mail to all of your contacts each time.
  • When someone asks you to remove them from your forwarding list, respect their wishes. You also have the right to ask your friends for the same.

These techniques may not keep solicitors from abusing the email system, but we can do our part to stop the spread of junk mail.

For more information:
http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/
http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html
 



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Promethius Consulting, LLC
www.promethius.com