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After spending two years building my own website, I was very disappointed that my Alexa ranking was still higher than one million. Alexa ranks each website based on the number of visitors it receives. The top ranked website, Yahoo! has an Alexa rating of 1 or 2. Less popular sites could be ranked up to 5,000,000.
In order to improve my Alexa rating, I spent about three weeks combing the web to find tips, secrets, and proven strategies for increasing my Alexa ranking. Unfortunately, many of the sites offering advice didn’t even have a high ranking themselves. Finally I discovered a number of sites ranked within the top 100,000 that were all applying the same “Alexa techniques” to improve their ranking. I’ve begun implementing a number of these techniques and have improved my Alexa ranking by 250,000 spots in just one week.
Here’s what you need to know. The basis for many of these techniques is the fact that your Alexa ranking is based reach and page views. However it only counts those who visit your site and have already downloaded the Alexa toolbar. Anyone can download the toolbar for free which is automatically added to your browser and tracks the sites you’re visiting. Increasing visits from those who do not have the Alexa toolbar installed will not help your Alexa ranking.

I’ve summarized the 7 strategies that I’ve discovered and applied to my own website to increase my Alexa ranking. Apply these strategies to your own website and see your ranking climb towards the top.
1. Download the Alexa toolbar and use it every day to visit your own website. Alexa even gives you the ability to co-brand the toolbar with your own logo and give it away. You can download the toolbar here: http://pages.alexa.com/prod_serv/associatetoolbar.html
2. Use Alexa redirection whenever you can. No matter when or where you provide a link to your website, be sure to use the equivalent Alexa redirect URL. For example, when providing a link to my website, I use http://redirect.alexa.com/redirect?marketingscoop.com. If you copy this URL into your browser, it will take you to MarketingScoop.com. To use this technique, simply replace the name of my website (marketingscoop) with yours.
3. Encourage your website visitors to add their positive testimonials on Alexa’s detailed listings page for your website. This can be done by placing a link to the appropriate Alexa page on your website and asking visitors to “Click here to rate this website”.
4. Write your own site reviews on the top 100 rated Alexa sites and include your redirect URL. The top 500 domains, according to Alexa can be found at http://www.alexa.com/site/ds/top_500 When you write a review, be sure to use the redirection URL we discussed in number 2 above specifically for your website [http://redirect.alexa.com/redirect?marketingscoop.com].
5. Download the Alexa ranking button, traffic history graph, info links, and other traffic counters onto the page of your website that receives the most traffic. For example, at the bottom of my home page http://www.marketingscoop.com, I’ve added the Alexa ranking box. You can do the same for your own site by visiting http://www.alexa.com/site/site_stats/signup You’ll notice that I haven’t added the traffic history graph. This is because it wouldn’t look appropriate on my home page and because Alexa is only providing detailed history on the top 100,000 sites. So if you’re not in the top 100,000, site stats would not be available.
6. Take an inexpensive advertisement out on the ExactSeek search directory for only a few dollars per month at ExactSeek.com Search engine results are directly correlated with Alexa rankings. You’ll notice that if a website is highly ranked on ExactSeek, chances are that it will be highly ranked on Alexa.
7. Get listed on as many search engines as possible by placing a free listing in DMOZ. This is the largest human edited directory on the web and is co-branded among hundreds of thousands of sites. Be patient though, it often takes up to 5 months before you see your website listed after submission. Even though it takes longer than it should, you have little say in the matter because it’s so widely used across the Internet.
These simple Alexa strategies are easy to implement and will make a huge difference in your Alexa ranking. Ultimately you want visitors to do more than visit your home page, you want them to interact with your site. Be sure to optimize your home page for SEO purposes, ease of use, and interaction. Creating a positive user experience will get visitors to return again and again.
*Michael Fleischner is a marketing expert and the president of MarketingScoop.com. Visit today for free marketing information and marketing blog directory. Michael has more than 12 years of marketing experience and had appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. Visit his marketing blog for further details.

What is the importance of Alexa ranking to your website or blog? Is the ranking system reliable? According to Alexa’s “Gathering Web Usage information, it utilizes web usage information coming from the community of Alexa Toolbar users. This means that a website’s Alexa Ranking depends on the traffic generated from visitors who have installed Alexa Toolbar in their internet browsers. This also means that your regular visitors who don’t have the toolbar will not contribute to your ranking. Alexa ranking is based on the three month traffic rank trend of a website. This trend is calculated according to the following:
1. Reach – percent of global internet users who visited a website
2. Pageviews – percent of global pageviews on a website
3. Pageviews/user – daily pageviews per user
4. Bounce rate – the percentage of visits to a website that consist of a single page turn
5. Time on site – daily time on site
6. Search percentage – the percentage of visits to a site that came from a search engine
According to Alexa, its toolbar has already gained over 10 million downloads worldwide. However, many webmasters and SEO experts still claim that their ranking system is biased considering that there are still many internet surfers who don’t use their toolbar. Moreover, they also claim that the ranking can be manipulated. One way to manipulate it is to install the Alexa toolbar in several PCs and visiting a site frequently while regularly changing IP addresses.
But despite of those issues that may deem Alexa ranking as a not so reliable popularity system, Alexa (an Amazon company) is still enjoying its worldwide recognition. In fact, when I searched Google this time for the keyword “website ranking”, it was Alexa who is in the top of the search results.
As contrast to Google ranking, the lower the site’s numbers in Alexa ranking, the higher the ranking it has. As of this post, the no.1 website according to Alexa is Google, followed by Facebook, then by Yahoo and Youtube. For blogs and websites, having a high Alexa ranking is still important for recognition and monetization purposes. Many website ranking sites today are still using Alexa ranking as one of their formulas in getting a website’s overall popularity. This is combined with Google Pagerank, numbers of subscribers and other rankings such as Technorati authorities in the case of weblogs.
Other than the recognition and ranking benefits that we can get for having a high Alexa rank (usually 100 thousand to 1), this can also help us expand our online income opportunities. High Alexa rank may imply high traffic and may attract advertisers on our sites. A high Alexa ranking is also usually a requirement for some affiliate marketing sites in their membership acceptance. Thus, if you have a high rank, you will have a bigger chance to be approved and participate in their online revenue generating activities. Websites that have lower ranks are usually rejected.
As a conclusion, although a million Alexa toolbar users can’t really give us exact ranking on the popularity of every blogs or websites, the information it provides us can give us an idea how a website or blog ranks according to the traffic it receives. If some webmasters are using unethical tactics to increase their Alexarank, they need to do that consistently and expensively. Otherwise, their ranking will suddenly be backed to its original rank. This is why Alexa ranks a site in a three month average – to measure consistent and regular traffic. Thus, Alexa rank is important to blogs and websites because it gives recognition, increase monetization and important information that will help us make our blogs or websites do more.
You can download Alexa toolbar by following this link.

http://businessaccent.com/2009/11/23/the-importance-of-alexa-rank-to-your-website/#respond

We have different celebrations that we highly esteem and remember, especially if has something to do with religious events. Since the month of October is coming, Jews are looking forward to their most sacred and important holiday, which falls between October 07-08, which is known as Yom Kippur or better known as an Atonement Day. To those Christians who believe in Jesus Christ and the mission that he performed here on earth, they would recognize and hallow this sacred day. It is a serious reflection of the sins that they have made a day to atone themselves. It is associated to the Sabbath Day observance found in the Ten Commandments and the Law of Moses. Hence, to give us a better and clearer understanding, here are 10 traditions that they do observe when this event comes.




10.  Refrain from Working
 
Since this is based on the 7th day of the week, which is canonically recorded as sacred and treated by the Lord himself as His day, everyone is encouraged to make serious reflections of the sins they have done and committed. They must find ways to seek forgiveness or make amends on the wrong doings committed to others. No one is allowed to work but devote it in remembering Him and His ultimate sacrifice.


9. Leather Shoes are prohibited


Wearing of leather shoes and even other shoes, which are made out of animal skin, must be avoided since ancient Jewish people traditionally wore canvas sneakers, which symbolizes purity and humility. Most of the people during this time wear leather or plastic.


8. Bathing or Washing Is Not Allowed


This is a part of the Talmud’s instruction where most of its directions are found in the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament. The idea here is in the act of doing it, if the intention is to get pleasure out of it that definitely opposes the sanctity of the whole event. The intention of doing it is identified. If you want it because you want to clean yourself, it is called cleansing and not bathing, which is permitted. but if it is the other way around, which is to cause excitement and pleasure, it should be avoided.


7. Abstaining from Usage of Perfumes/Lotions


This is considered part of human pleasures that must be avoided by anyone who is observing this event. It also includes applying lotion on the skin, deodorant, and even other cosmetics. These things signify worldliness and invites pleasure. When people are participating and doing this activity early in history, death is the capital punishment for breaking this tradition.


6. No Marital Relations


Giving of oneself to this sacred day is what the Lord requires to all Jewish who believes in this event. This is part of worldly pleasures, which is not appropriate when doing serious meditation about the importance of the atonement.


5. Yom Kipppur Prayer Service


Aside from individual or personal prayer being done at home, there are also sets of prayers known as Yom Kippur Prayer Service, which is divided into 5 parts apart from the typical 3 times a day prayer in regular days. They are called Ma’ariv, Shacharit, Musaf, Mincha, and lastly the closing prayer called Ne’ilah.


4. Public/Private Petitions and Confessions

This tradition are other parts of the Prayer Service wherein a special prayer may be uttered while confessing publicly, the sins that have been committed, which is part of the repentance process on the day of the atonement. This is also called Vidui where it also includes private petitions on this day.


3. Staying in Synagogue Services


This is an important activity that an individual can do to hallow this day. It starts by spending the whole day in prayer in an Orthodox way. It opens at 8 or 9 in the morning which would last until 3pm. By 5pm to 6pm until the nightfall, they would continue. Other services or activities being done at the synagogue could be participated as an ideal way to finish the two-day celebration of this holy holiday.

2. Intensive Prayer


Nothing will suffice to give a full devotion to this day but by unceasing communion through prayer. There is a place intended where constant communication can be made and one of which is the synagogue, aside from home. This is the most sacred way of expressing and reciprocating meditation and worship.


1. 25-Hour Fasting


This is the primary tradition that cannot be forgotten. Before the sunset begins, it signifies that abstinence from any food and liquid must be done. When the nightfall comes, they could partake of any food. This is one way of living for 25 hours as if our body is dead since we are not taking in any food in our body. As nightfall begins, individuals may stop fasting, but will continue doing it the following day to complete the 25 hours observance and abstinence from food.

http://www.tiptoptens.com/2011/10/07/top-10-traditions-on-yom-kippur-day/

Everyone was surprised a few months ago when Steve Jobs finally gave up his CEO position and handed it over to Tim Cook. One way or another, people had a hard time accepting the fact that the master of Apple would give away his love, his job. Hence, but today, the world are still in shock when the big news spread all over the net that he finally left his family permanently and we would no longer hear another discovery and innovative idea from the genius himself, Steve Jobs. Yes, he passed away after fighting pancreatic cancer. Instead of seeing him as a big loss as the original brain for Apple, let us get to know the side of him that we are not aware of and cherish him more.




10. 136^th Richest Person in the World

Last year on Forbes 2010 World’s Billionaires, he was named as the 136^th richest person in the world with his 5.5 billion net worth. In fact, when he turned 25 years old, he was already a declared multimillionaire even before he left Apple in 1984. He had many investments and one of which is the share that he still has at Disney where he was earning $48 million annually.


9. A Vegetarian Himself


When he co-founded Apple Computer Incorporated on April 01, 1976 together with Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, the name of the company itself was patterned and derived from his personality and eating lifestyle. He was a vegetarian and fruitarian himself. In fact, apple was his favorite fruit. In fact, he shared the same thing with his wife who does not eat any meat or products alike and have been maintaining that ever since.


8. $1 Annual Salary


Although, he was a self-made billionaire, he was only receiving $1 annual salary from Apple. Believe it or not, that is actually one of the realities that you have to know. In fact, he earns more from Disney through his share that he invested on it.


7. A College Drop Out


Who would ever think that this business magnate and an icon of Apple was not able to finish his college degree. He just went one semester at Reed College and nothing followed after he dropped out. Fortunately, he was much blessed than those who have completed and earned higher degrees than he earn.


6.  Calligraphy Was His First Love


He did not like any gadget at the beginning. What he really loved was calligraphy. In fact, this what he had done after dropping out from Reed College. This is where he became interested in penmanship and fonts where Macintosh typefaces came from.


5. He saw an Actual Computer at Age 12


He became exposed in the computer industry when Larry Lang from Hewlett Packard who was an engineer that time showed to him his first computer. That was the beginning of his connection with gadgets and technological development.


4. He was adopted


His biological parents had decided to give him away since they were not ready to fulfill parental responsibilities so they asked the parents who adopted Steve to make sure that they were college graduates just to ensure Steve’s future. They lived to his real parents because they never got any degree. But from his biological parents, he has a sister named Mona Simpson who is a famous and known novelist.


3. He was a Buddhist


He was not a member of any Christian denomination but he was a Buddhist himself. In fact, he even tried to serve as a monk during his younger years. Everything happened after he dropped from Reed College, he decided to have a trip in India. When he came back, his head was shaved and was even experimenting LSD, which he said was a turning point of his life.


2. He was Dyslexic


We might wonder that the primary reason why he did not continue finishing his college degree at Reed College is because of his condition. Yes, He had dyslexia, which explains that he had a learning disability that affects his ability to read. How about Albert Einstein? He was a known genius in history but had dyslexia too. It could even be attributed that it is not a learning disability but over intellectual ability because of the many discoveries and creation, that he had done that made Apple famous and undisputed.


1. He was an Assyrian


According to his records, he was born and raised in San Francisco, California on February 24, 1955 but technically, he was an Assyrian since his real father was a professor of Political Science. Since he was just adopted by the parents who took care of him from birth to his growing years, what runs in his blood was the blood of his real parents. His Father was a Muslim Assyrian that could even tell that he was a Muslim by blood.

http://www.tiptoptens.com/2011/10/06/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-steve-jobs-facts/

Steve Jobs dies at the age of 56, a day after the “Let’s Talk iPhone” event in Cupertino, California. As the unveiling of the iPhone 4S has been done, many have remembered him as he was the person behind MacBooks, Time Machines, Mac PCs, OSX systems, and even the iPhone, iPad, and the iPod, which we all came to love and live with. However, with such a brilliant mind creating a masterpiece called Apple, what other things did he create that is considered the best of his masterpieces ever.




10. USB Power Adapter


If you think that this was just another thing to pass by, you need to think again. Yup, it was not the Chinese that made this thing to light. In order for the iPod to be charged and connected to the computer on different instances, just in case a computer is absent, Steve Jobs made an adapter that can have the same charging function of a PC.


9. NeXT Computer


When Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985, he had created his own computer empire to show Apple that he can live without the company that ditched him. As founder and CEO of NeXT, he was able to create a computer line in 1988 and a smaller version in 1990. When Jobs came back to Apple, he purchased NeXT in December 1996 for $429 million, for the sake of expanding the OSX line with NeXT’s OpenStep system.


8. Pixar Animation Studios


Before Steve Jobs bought the company and made it into his own, it was known as Lucasfilm. Yup, the same group that was behind the stunning graphics being used in Star Wars movies and other Sci-Fi movies like Star Trek. He purchased the company, before with 45 CG experts, for $5 million to George Lucas, and another $5 million for the working capital. Pixar was born when Jobs left Apple in 1986.


7. Macintosh


First created in January 24, 1984, it was the first of the line of computers to be developed and sold by Apple. It was the computer that pioneered the path to what is being adapted in the modern day, operated by a mouse and using graphics user interface instead of a command line interface that is found in MS-DOS. Right now, we are enjoying iMacs and MacBooks coming from the early masterpiece.


6. iTunes Music Store


Thanks to his concern to music artists and other musicians, Steve Jobs made a way for customers to enjoy their downloaded music while assuring that artists are paid for the music they made. The iTunes store sold music for $0.99 each and has a complex security system that cannot be hacked for stealing music.


5. Mac OSX


The reign of Apple’s powerful computer operating system was developed greatly, thanks to the OpenStep system found in NeXTSTEP, as Steve Jobs created the company when he left Apple in 1985. The existing Mac was combined with a different system, making the Mac OS adaptable to home and professional use. Everyone may have heard “Rhapsody” which was the name of the Mac OSX before it was launched for public purchase.


4. iPod


Steve Jobs had changed the game once more when he considered people who have been enjoying the life of portable music while not worrying the weight and size of what they carry. The iPod has been designed as an inspiration for those people who cannot live without their bulky walkman or CD player.

3. iPad


A device that gave birth to other tablet computers and other portable tab devices like the Samsung Galaxy Tab or the BlackBerry Playbook. Steve Jobs was at it again, innovating something new that others find hard to imitate. He made the iPhone grow bigger and become better.


2. iPhone


One of the best toys to be ever enjoyed by both kids and adults alike is the iPhone. When it was first introduced in January 9, 2007, the whole world was shaken with a game changer in mobile phone technology. It had brought internet and gaming in a whole new level. It is, and it may be the best portable mobile device to do pretty much of everything from video, to audio, to gaming, and even social networking.


1. Apple


Who could believe that one of the world’s greatest computer empires had started from a home garage way back in April 1, 1976, with only three people doing all of the dirty work? The partnerships of Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne gave way to the development of a huge compute company. Back then, the computer was handmade and the innovation just kept going better and better. Homes, businesses, and the corporate world have seen the developments as revolutionary and amazing. Right now, it still rocks with the latest gadgets and other technologies that others find challenging to mimic or overthrow.

http://www.tiptoptens.com/2011/10/06/top-10-creations-and-innovations-by-steve-jobs/

TOP TEN iPHONE /iPad / Ipod  Applications for 2011


1. Angry Birds:

This game was developed in Chillingo, and the company sold a million copies of their last app, “Cut the Rope for iPad”. This game has been rated the #1 game for 2010. For iPhone it is the fun package game like the Angry Birds have to kill and fight the green pigs who stole their eggs. This game is seriously a MUST HAVE.
2. Fruit Ninja:

This addictive game is designed by Halfbrick Studios and is designed truly for iPhones and iPads. About two million copies have been sold for it, and the latest version comes with a multi player option.
3. Cut The Rope:

This game is also developed in Chillingo, cut the rope is available on both iPhones and iPads. This game has a mysterious character that is inside a box; he starts eating candies and is never stopped
4. Dragon Dictation:

It is also the best application you can give your iPhone 4. This application provides us a powerful voice recognition app, all you have to do is to start and tap then speak into it.
5. Kindle for iPhone:

This creates and awesome experience for the book readers. The text looks awesome on the clear and beautiful screen. Once it is installed you can get 725000 + books. Via Kindle store
6. Twitterrific for Twitter:

Tweeple, now designed exclusively for iPad, a smooth user interface, same stunts and style.
7. The karate kid:

The movie was a success and so do this app. keeping the same style. The developers have done a great deal about this app. totally cool.
8. Siri Assistant:

It is the best free productivity app. All you have to do is to speak plain English and within a moment Siri Assistant will start gathering info for you
9. Public Radio Player:

This app turns your iPhone into a radio.
10. Backbreaker football:

This is something with really cool graphics; this gives you a real backbreaking football ecstasy. Everything in it is real smooth.

http://www.tiptoptens.com/2011/01/06/top-ten-apple-iphone-ipod-ipad-apps-for-2011-best-applications/

Apple had released iOS 4.3 in early march 2011 with the release of a new iPad 2 which is now available for other Apple devices too, iOS 4.3 had brought many new exciting features to Apple devices and this is why had made this list of the 10 major changes and new features added in Apple iOS 4.3

iTunes home sharing is one of the best features introduced in iOS 4.3, You can noe get all iTunes content from you iPod, iPhone and iPad anywhere in house using WiFi and can use it without downloading to your device.
Safari browsing experience has been improved with Nitro JavaScript Engine
iOS 4.3 support Audio, Video editing apps in app stores like iMovie
iOS 4.3 has improved the Airplay features too, Now we can stream videos to HDTV via Apple TV using photo apps
For iPad now iOS 4.3 support mute and rotation lock
You can now make your iPhone 4 a personal hotspot and connect up to 5 devices using WiFi , Bluetooth and USB
Users can now restrict access to apps using new feature of Parental Control in iSO 4.3
You can now connect to HDTV or other HDMI devices using Apple Digital AV adapter to share videos from your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch 4G, Keep in mind you have to buy Apple Digital Av adapter separately
iOS 4.3 is now working on multifingure touch functionality which will be available in upcoming iOS 4.3 upgrade (This feature is only available to developers)
iOS 4.3 has also brought some improvements in message settings and calling features, i.e. you can now make conference by single tap, a new feature in message setting will allow you set number of times to repeat an alert
You can check latest apple ipad 2 covers here

http://www.tiptoptens.com/2011/03/24/review-10-new-features-in-apple-ios-4-3-what-is-new/