In the Bible, Jesus tells the story called "The Parable of the Lost Sheep". If a man lost a sheep, he would leave the others to look for it. When he had found it he would be very glad and rejoice with his friends. In this way the lost sheep becomes temporarily more important than all the others.

Do you spend a lot of time trying to create that winning piece of content or obtaining the prized link in an effort to gain new visitors to your website? Why not get the fundamentals right first by retrieving those broken links caused by moved pages, deleted pages or new URLs?

Google Webmaster Tools Crawl Errors Report

Tap into the power of Webmaster Tools with the crawl error report, a simple list of 404 errors that Googlebot is getting when it visits your website.In a few viewing of this report, I found dozens of links to pages that don't exist. Great, you're thinking. Now what?

Google Webmaster Tools Crawl Error Reveal Lost Links

Create a 301 Redirect List in Google Docs

Google Docs is a simple way to share an active spreadsheet that more than one person will be working on at any given time. I've created a Google Spreadsheet called "301 Redirects" with two columns. If the concept of redirects is new to you, here is more information about 301 redirects and when they should be used.

Now, back to the spreadsheet. On the left is the FROM column where I copy/paste the pages resulting in 404s from the crawl error report. On the right is the TO column, where I paste the URL where I want the page to resolve to.

Mark the to-be-done URLs in red, so as not to mix them up with 301s you've already created.

Determining The Best Page For Your Redirect

A quick glance shows me that a particular page ( http://www.voices.com/voice-mail-greetings.htm ) no longer exists. In order to find the next best URL, I Google site:voices.com voicemail. While it may not be the best approach, it's a quick and dirty way to find out which page Google believes is the most relevant on my site for a given keyword. In this, I could pick a page about voice-overs for phone systems or a page specifically about voicemail greetings.

Google site:yourdomain.com keyword to find the top page for a keyword

Share The Google Spreadsheet with Your Developer

If you're not comfortable editing the .htaccess file, don't. Leave that for the professionals. I use the "Share" feature in Google Docs to send the request to my developer. It's pretty clear that the red rows are the ones to be worked on.

Update Your 301 Redirect Spreadsheet

Double check each and every URL to be sure it resolved correctly on the page you specified. If your site is anything like ours, you're dealing with hundreds of pages there is the potential for pages to get redirected to the wrong ones, or worse yet, redirected to another non-existent page.

Once you've confirmed the link is all good, mark the URL as complete by changing the background color from red to green, and slid the row to the bottom of the list. When you're all done, your spreadsheet should be nice and green, like this:

Completed 301 Redirect Spreadsheet

Wrap-Up

Just like the shepherds of days gone by, we should spend some time finding those lost links and rejoicing when we can bring them home.

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The team at Voices.com is the first company to use TwitterForce to manage Twitter conversations directly within Salesforce.

We've been able to import entire tweet conversations with one click. Specifically, we can create leads, cases, and solutions from tweets.

The set-up was simple. Like other Twitter monitoring applications, we just defined search terms and monitored Twitter search results for those terms.

Finally, and most importantly, we can now engage our customers and industry people by sending outbound tweets with case solutions or custom messages.

Currently, Twitterforce is private and cannot be found by searching or browsing on the AppExchange.

Fret not! If you have Salesforce, you'll soon be able to use Twitterforce to do the following:

- With one click, create leads, cases, and solutions from incoming Tweets
- Link your twitter account to Salesforce and send outbound tweets to Contacts and Leads
- Import full tweet conversations and track their lifecycle using Salesforce analytics

Erica Stapleton, Voices.com's Social Media Manager describes the set-up as "Quick and easy to install, tweeted from Salesforce within 5 minutes."

Do you have Salesforce? Are you planning on rolling our Twitterforce in your organization.

---

Keeping customers and winning new ones via word of mouth is the key to maintaining top line revenue - you can never cut costs enough to survive if you can't maintain the top
line. However, customers are now much less tolerant of any service glitch.

Delivering flawless service is critical to maintaining reasonable margins and taking advantage of the most cost-effective marketing mechanism... word of mouth.

Businesses of any size can take advantage of this tremendous opportunity to hear how other companies operate and utilize their call centres to create memorable customer experiences and spur on positive word of mouth.

Next week, I'll be speaking at Canada's most highly anticipated call centre event alongside 35+ award winning speakers, all of whom are prepared to share their call centre solutions.

Voices.com Involvement with Call Centre Canada Week

For my part, I'll be discussing how the team at Voices.com uses Salesforce for our customer relationship management and how we've integrated Salesforce with LivePerson's LiveChat technology.

Here's exactly what I'll be covering at Call Centre Week Canada:

๏ Creating a customized, flexible package that grows in alignment with corporate growth
๏ Generating sales through live chat
๏ Integrating CRM with live chat
๏ Optimizing live chat by employing skills-based routing
๏ Achieving 100% user adoption of CRM

Impressive Results with Salesforce

Several years ago, we selected Salesforce for our customer relationship management initiative. I'll be sharing how we realized a 62% increase in sales, as well as a 215% increase in leads in the first three months of our customer relationship management implementation.

Live Chat Makes Customer Service More Personal

If you've been a customer of Voices.com and had a question, you've likely tried our live chat service. In a nutshell, it's an instant messaging service where you can ask us questions and we'll answer you -- right there on the spot. Plus, you can have the answer sent to you by email, so you've got a copy as a back-up.

Partnering Live Chat with CRM

With hundreds of chats occurring each week, and often two or three happening at once, our customer service staff needed an easier way to quick pull up account records in Salesforce, and right within the LivePerson Live Chat console.

After some research and connecting with the group at LivePerson, we have been able to successfully integrate the two applications.

If you're interested in this topic, Blake Landau from IQPC and I recorded a podcast recently where we talk about this in quite a bit of detail.

Join Me at Call Centre Week Canada

IQPC's Call Centre Week Canada conference on August 17-20 in Toronto, Canada.

Looking forward to seeing you there,

David

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It's real. Tonight I confirmed the existence of Twitter Verified Accounts, a much needed add-on for businesses, brands and celebrities to communicate to users that they are the real deal.

As Twitter describes the new service, the purpose of Twitter Verified Accounts is to prevent identify confusion and establish authenticity.

How to Identify a Verified Account

๏ The 'Verified Account' badge will appear in the top-right portion of a user's profile page just above the name, location and bio--as shown in the screenshot below. The badge will click-through to this page.

๏ It will always have a badge followed by the words 'Verified Account'

๏ If the verified account badge appears anywhere else on a user's profile page (e.g. in the avatar or the background) it is not a verified account

๏ The Verified Account badge can not be used unless it is provided by Twitter. Accounts using the badge as part of profile pictures, background images, or in any way implying false verification will be permanently suspended.

๏ The verified account badge will also appear next to usernames in the Find People section

๏ The verified account badge will have the same color as shown above even if users customize the background of their profile page or change the color in the sidebar

Sample of Twitter Verified Account

Will You Be Verifying Your Twitter Account?

Leave a comment if you think this a good idea. If so, how much would you be willing to pay to verify your Twitter Account.

---

Today, marks the launch of the redesigned AppExchange, a online application store for business users where they can extend the functionality of Salesforce.

As many of your know, I'm a strong advocate of Salesforce for both small and big business. In fact, we started with the Professional Edition focused on the Customer Relationship Management elements and have since upgraded to the Enterprise version and have taken advantage of the full suite of tools.

Many of those tools have been found in the AppExchange, including Salesforce for Google Apps, Salesforce for Google Adwords and Salesforce Mobile.

Here is what's new.

1. New App Lists

In addition to seeing the most popular apps and latest listings, you can now view our top native solutions and staff recommended apps.

2. Multi-Dimensional Search

Search for apps by industry, edition, price, and function- all at the same time.

3. A Product Comparison Matrix

Add up to three apps to your 'Saved Apps' section, click 'compare' and see how apps stack up against each other in a side-by-side matrix.

4. Improved User Reviews

You can now rate apps on multiple dimensions like ease of use, support and value. Additionally, partners and customers can comment on user reviews that are out of date or inaccurate.

The site is a huge improvement over the old version and the AppExchange product team is looking for feedback. So, if you're a Salesforce user, head on over to the AppExchange and drop them a quick note with your comments.

---

On January 20, the United States of America will inaugurate its 44th President, Barack Obama. President Obama will be the first African American to hold the office, and will step into the White House in the midst of a trying economic situation and panoply of unresolved international issues.

To commemorate this historic moment in U.S. history, Audible has pulled together the best audio on presidencies of the past, on President Obama himself, and on the challenges ahead. You can listen to our 44th President read his autobiography or hear FDR's 1933 Inauguration Address. Get it all in the Audible Inauguration Room.

And be sure to check back on January 20 to download President Barack Obama's Inauguration Address free!

Audible Inauguration Room

• The Inauguration Room
• About President Obama
• Inauguration Speeches, 1933-2005
• Presidential Biographies

Tags

Audible, download, audio, Obama, Barack Obama, President, inauguration

---

It's the time of year when we make resolutions are made. I'm not much of a resolution-maker myself, but I'm going to suggest that small business owners make one. Namely, it's a suggestion that you resolve to fix up your web site and pay attention to things you might have ignored for too long. I know you're busy and your time is valuable, so chances are good that you've missed a few minor issues that are making your web site look old and outdated.

Think about this way: Your car needs a tune-up every 15,000 miles or so to keep it running at its best. Your teeth need a checkup at least once or twice a year. Well, a regular checkup will also keep your web site running in peak condition.

1. Review your company information

If you have a staff listing or directory, is it up-to-date with correct names, titles, and other contact information? If you have a "Contact Us" or "About Us" page or something similar that discusses company history, make sure it's updated, especially references such as "We've been in business for eight years."

2. Review your contact information

Are the phone and fax numbers, mailing and email addresses listed on your site all current? You're obviously losing customers if the phone number has changed.

3. Review your email routing

If you list support@yourdomain.com as the main contact address on your site, is it being routed to the correct person? If your shopping cart sends order information to sales@yourdomain.com, is that going where it needs to go? Make sure your email routing reflects any organizational changes you've had.

4. Review and test your contact forms

If you have contact forms on your site, review them to make sure they work, they're easy to use, and to see if they need to be updated. You might want to start asking people how they found your site or something else that your contact form doesn't ask now. Also, be sure to try to "break" the form. Submit it without the required information and see how understandable the resulting error message is.

5. Review your automated outgoing messages

Do you send an automated confirmation message or receipt after someone orders a product or uses your contact form? If so, review that outgoing automated message to make sure it says what you want it to say, and that it has the right contact information.

6. Update your copyright and/or privacy policy statements

If you have a copyright notice on your site, make sure it's not outdated. If you have a privacy policy, review it to make sure it accurately describes your current policy toward handling your customers' personal information.

7. Test all outgoing links on your web site

Outdated or broken links make your site look stale. It's also a source of frustration for your customers who click on links that don't work. Check all links on your site to make they're accurate and up-to-date. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) offers an online link checker that makes this easy to do.

8. Review the hidden sections of your web site

If you have any password-protected areas, do the passwords need to be changed? If you had staff changes during the year, this might be a good idea. It might be a good idea even if you didn't!

9. Review your domain record

Make sure your domain registrar has current contact information for you. If they don't, you might miss renewal notices and other important announcements about your domain. You might also want to read How to Protect Your Domain, which has some additional things to look for on your domain record.

10. Do an overall review of your web site

This is something you should really be thinking about on a regular basis, but web sites often get ignored in the daily grind of running a small business. Ask yourself: How fresh is the content on my site? Do any pages need to be updated? How does my site look? Is it time for a more professional or modern design? Does my site offer the kind of features or tools that let my customers get what they want when they visit?

Some of these suggestions will only take minutes to complete, while others will be more time-consuming. But no matter how busy you are, checking your web site at least once a year is a resolution worth making ... and keeping.

---

First of all, Happy New Year!

And, with the new year comes some annual maintenance that every webmaster should be conscious of. Here's a quick tip from my list of annual website maintenance.

Build Trust

Having your website reflect current and accurate information helps build trust. Yes, even the year beside your copyright notice makes a subtle, perhaps sub-conscious, impact on your visitors.

Be Relevant

Your website visitors expect you to be on top of the latest developments in the business and technology world.

Show You Care

For those websites that can make the change quickly, it shows your visitors that you care. Take a moment now to update your website's copyright year... or email your webmaster if they take care of this for you.

Search Engines Update Their Copyright Year

Let's take a look at how the search engines have done, shall we?

Google

Yahoo!

MSN

Have You Updated Your Copyright Notice Yet?

---

There has most definitely been a shift in the media landscape, from traditional media including newspaper, radio and television to online media. The most prevalent of the online media sources are blogs.

What Is a Blog?

Weblogs, web logs or simply blogs, as they are known, are easy-to-use websites (no HTML knowledge required), where you can quickly post thoughts, publish articles and interact with people. Blogs are typically accessible to any Internet user.

Blogs are Exploding

Technorati is now tracking over 50 million weblogs and about 120,000 new weblogs are being created worldwide each day. That's about 1.4 blogs created every second.

Businesses can take advantage of this powerful communications medium, starting with a few simple steps to get involved today.

How To Get Involved

Before jumping in and creating your own blog, it's strongly advised that you should explore who else is blogging in your industry.

To find a blog, visit either Google Blog Search or Technorati.

1. Discover a blog
2. Subscribe to that blog
3. Comment on articles
4. Link to your website

How To Add Comments

Once you've found a blog that covers a topic that you're interested in, it's time to participate. Comments add value to the conversation that’s already going on. They should:

๏ Be Insightful
๏ Be Validating
๏ Carry Momentum

What Can You Do With Blogs?

With some background knowledge of who is blogging and the style of writing your fellow bloggers are pursuing, let's explore how you can use blogs in your business.

With a business blog, you can:

๏ Write about new products or explain your products' features
๏ Highlight the benefits of doing business with you
๏ Send company updates
๏ Minimize customer service or technical issues by answering questions on your blog
๏ Write how-to articles
๏ Inform your customers of changes in your business

Creating Your Own Blog

By this point, you likely have plenty of ideas for using a blog in your business and are ready to start blogging today. The good news is that you can get started in as little as five minutes.

There is however, one final decision to be made. You'll need to pick between a "Hosted Blog" or "Installed Blog".

Hosted Blog

A hosted blog is offered by a third-party service that is accessible on the Internet. Online services such as Blogger, WordPress and TypePad allow you to create an account, login and start a blog. At that time, you can personalize your blog by choosing a theme. It's really that simple.

If you don't have your own website, or are looking for an easy-to-use tool, consider one of these blogging options.

๏ Blogger http://www.blogger.com
๏ WordPress http://www.wordpress.com
๏ TypePad http://www.typepad.com

Installed Blog

Installed blogs are blogging software packages that you first download to your personal computer, then install on your web server. For those who are familiar with HTML and logging into their server via FTP, an installed blog is by far the better option for a variety of reasons.

With installed blogs, you have significantly more control of the look and feel of your blog, your visitors remain on your website, and any links to your articles are links to your domain name which is a primary factor in obtaining good search engine results, also known as search engine optimization.

If you have your own domain name and a webmaster who can help install a piece of software on your server the installed blog option is your best choice.

๏ WordPress http://www.wordpress.org
๏ MovableType http://www.movabletype.org

Start Blogging

Regardless of which option you choose, you'll notice that writing a blog post is strikingly similar to writing in Microsoft Word or any other text editor. Each blog post includes:

๏ Post Title
๏ Body text
๏ Time and date stamp
๏ Tags or labels used to organize similar posts

Claim Your Blog at Technorati

After you've published your first blog post, you can claim your blog at Technorati. When you first sign-up at Technorati check the "I have a blog and would like to claim it now." check box.

The process is really quite simple and it's worth taking a few moments to get this set-up.

๏ Claim Your Blog on Technorati

Blog Consistently by Sticking to a Schedule

One of the questions that comes up at speaking engagements is "how often should I blog?" which varies and depends on how much you have to say.

To not overwhelm yourself, aim for publishing one post each week. If you get ideas in between posts, perhaps start a new draft. Before you know it, you'll have a number of draft posts lined up which are excellent reserves for those dry periods when you're stuck for something to publish.

In short, write only when you have something of value to share. You'll also find that the more you write, even if you're not necessarily publishing each article (there's no shame in holding onto some drafts), the easier and more momentous your blogging becomes.

Do You Have a Blog? Add Your Tips to the List

If you've been blogging for a while you surely have some excellent advice to share.

Add your tips by leaving a comment below.

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Most sites that are built exclusively around or are developed solely for mobile applications are probably dead. This may because the cost of mobile usage has been far too high in North America such that most mobile users are limiting severely how and when they access the net to avoid outrageous bills. Only now are annual flat rate fee structures coming into effect in North America.

True Web Apps for Mobility

As long as a site has a normal web presence and is fully accessible that way, and has also taken pains to be sure that mobile users have a friendly and convenient/functional interface, they will do well as costs to access by mobile will drop in the future and more mobile device people will reach them (and vice versa).

This is why I was so excited about Voices.com on mobile – you are taken immediately to the search tool and have immediate access to talent. It works.

Do you access Business Apps from your Mobile Phone?

---

This morning, the Official Salesforce Blog announced that they have expanded their partnership with Google and together have delivered an industry-changing new product called Salesforce for Google Apps.

Techmeme and the New York Times has some great coverage on this developing story.

As heavy Salesforce and Google Apps users, we're pleased with this development and can see how we'll be using this dynamic duo for greater productivity and ultimately our ability to deliver a better service.

Salesforce for Google Apps

It's easy to see how we could run our business in some exciting new ways:

1. Salesforce and Gmail

Salesforce and Gmail - Send Gmail to contacts from inside Salesforce or log emails in Salesforce from Gmail.

Now that's something that Salesforce really needed; the ability to both send an receive messages. Transitioning from Outlook and Apple Mail to Gmail makes sense, considering a lot of us work remotely, in the evenings and on weekends. I've been waiting for a big enough reason to switch to Gmail and it looks like my reason has arrived.

2. Salesforce and Google Talk

Salesforce and Google Talk - Chat with colleagues right from within Salesforce.

Currently we use Skype as our internal instant messaging tool, however tight integration with Salesforce means one less application we need running on our machines.

3. Salesforce and Google Docs

Salesforce and Google Docs - Create and attach Google Docs to records inside Salesforce for real time collaboration.

From business plans, proposals and product development outlines, Google Docs has all but replaced Microsoft Word in our office. And, if we can use Google Docs for the storage, we'll likely see some cost savings by avoiding purchasing more Salesforce storage.

4. Salesforce and Google Calendar

Salesforce and Google Calendar - Synchronize your Salesforce meetings, campaigns, and events with Google Calendar.

Not that we do a terrible amount of scheduling, I can foresee this being a helpful tool. When, we do have events to attend, the entire week is usually pretty busy, so a single integrated view will ensure we're all in the right place and the right time.

5. Salesforce and Google Start Page

Salesforce and Google Start Page - Access your most important business information, including Salesforce dashboards, and search the Web from a single page.

This is smart. As the CEO, having a single view that shows key performance indicators as well as a snapshot of your inbox allows me prioritize my day or drill down on reports should anything jump out at me. Better information means better decisions.

Do You Run Salesforce?

If you're in a business that's running Salesforce, how do you see using these new tools to help you grow you company?

Add your comments below...

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Monday evenings, I typically grab an hour to listen to my favorite podcast, This Week in Tech (TWiT) hosted by Leo Laporte, with frequent guests John C. Dvorak, Patrick Norton and others who analyze the weekly news in from the world of technology.

Seeing as Audible is their major sponsor, I knew the time would come when they discussed recording audiobooks, the time required and how much narrators get paid.

Well, I've got some answers for you.

Audiobook Market

Pat Fraley reports on Vox Daily that:

According to my friend and president of Blackstone Audio, Craig Black, this figure will balloon to 24,000 over the next four years. Why? Because of the success of downloadable audiobooks on the Internet.

Industry news source Voice Over Times reports:

Earlier this year, Amazon announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Audible, the audiobook website for a transaction value of approximately $300 million.

In short, the audiobook industry is red hot!

Audiobook Narrators

Audiobook publishers need all sorts of talents and sounds. If you have struggled because you sound like you’re 16, or 60, guess what? There are audiobook projects out there that need your sound. It is just a matter of finding the door where the welcome mat is ready and waiting.

Do You Need an Agent?

In the Billion $ Read, Pat Fraley explains that there is no need to go through an agent. Audiobook publishers deal directly with the voice talent. That's you Leo.

Time Required

As an estimate, it requires 4-5 times as long to produce a finished minute of a recorded voice over as it does to simply read the script.

Here's an example:

- 1 hour to read a short story.
- 2 hours for editing (removing breaths, pops, clicks,
- 1 hour for mixing (equalization, compression, limiting)
- 1 hour for mastering (saving the file to disk, converting to other formats, burning a hard copy for archive)
Total = 5 hours

Freelance Voice Over Rates

While the narration of audiobooks are often priced on a per word basis, somewhere between $0.10 and $0.25, rates for other types of voice over recordings can be found by viewing this voice over rate sheet [PDF].

Don't Let Just Anyone do the Movie Trailer

Should the book you record ever get made into a movie, don't let just anybody, including Calacanis, voice the movie trailer.

The "In a World..." imitation that Jason Calacanis tried to do is of Don LaFontaine. Don invented the movie trailer voice and even wrote the copy. There are many people who strive to be the "Voice of God", the select who nail it, but oftentimes many fall short.

TWiT Fans, Would You Buy an Audiobook by Leo Laporte?

Leave your comments below.

---

There's been some discussion regarding software developers exploring new ways to bridge the gap between desktop and web applications.

Development tools such as Adobe AIR and Mozilla Prism are the two most notable players. To get a feel for what can been done, Adobe had published a nice gallery of applications.

Let's face it, the only reason desktop applications are still relevant is because of bandwidth and security.

Bandwidth

It was less than 5 years ago that the majority of Internet users were still on either dial-up connection or a by today's standards, a "low-speed" version of the Web as we've come to know it.

New technologies such as Verizon's FIOS, a 100% digital, fiber-optic cable connected straight to your home and speeds as high as 20 Mbps, practically eliminate the need for greater speed.

I believe that if we had the choice, we'd be running our entire businesses online, and even doing processor-intensive tasks such as editing audio and video if it was equal to the desktop experience.

Once we're over the bandwidth issue the Internet economy will only be dealing with security issues.

Security

When companies like Salesforce.com and even Intuit with their online version of Quickbooks, end corporate users are showing little resistance in trusting their most private data ( customer data and financial data ) to web services.

Wrap Up

In 5 years time, will we really be still relying on desktop applications or will the vast majority of our business applications be readily available from any computer, accessible with our username and password?

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Sitemaps have been around since the advent of the Web and used primarily as a way to list all the pages on a particular website.

Nowadays, sitemaps have other purposes such as organizing web content by topic, showing the search engines which pages you have created and developing a linking structure that emphasizes specific areas of your website over others.

But just how do you make a sitemap? And, how do you get that sitemap into Google, Yahoo! and MSN? That's today's topic and for the webmasters and entrepreneurs out there, I think this article will be quite refreshing.

TWO FLAVORS OF SITEMAPS

Just as we build web pages with both people and search engines in mind, we should have a similar mind set when building our sitemaps. In short, it's a best practice to create one for people, and another for the search engines.

HTML SITEMAP

First, let's focus on your visitors who will be existing customers, prospective customers, vendors, partners and employees.

Your sitemap provides links to all the most important pages on your website and is organized in a logical manner that makes viewing the sitemap a pleasurable experience.

As a best practice, consider the following when creating your HTML sitemap:

- The file name should be sitemap.html
- Organize your pages by topic or category
- Group all your Registration items together such as links to Sign Up pages, Upgrade pages, Feature & Benefit Comparison charts, Order Forms (PDF) and Purchase pages.
- Group all your Help pages together including your FAQs, Create a Support Ticket, Report a Bug and Feature Requests forms
- Group all your Company pages together such as your About Us page, Contact Us page, Legal and Privacy statements
- Limit the number of categories to 10
- Limit the total number of links of your sitemap to 100
- Include an area for blogs, podcasts and videos
- Link to RSS and XML feeds
- Link to your XML sitemap too

XML SITEMAP

Sitemaps are an easy way for webmasters to inform search engines about pages on their sites that are available for crawling.

In its simplest form, a Sitemap is an XML file that lists URLs for a site along with additional metadata about each URL (when it was last updated, how often it usually changes, and how important it is, relative to other URLs in the site) so that search engines can crawl the site more intelligently.

Sitemaps.org has established the protocol for how to create an XML sitemap that is compliant with Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

Here are some short cuts for creating your own XML sitemap.

Google's Sitemap Generator Program

The Google Sitemap Generator is a Python script that creates a Sitemap for your site using the Sitemap Protocol. This script can create Sitemaps from URL lists, web server directories, or from access logs.

ONLINE SITEMAP GENERATORS

These online sitemap generators create your sitemap free and and produce both plain text and xml versions of your site.

Sitemapspal
PortalApp Generator
Peterz.de (German)
Autositemap
Tarrant.it Sitemap Generator
XML-Sitemaps Generator
Hockeygods Online Sitemap Generator
Nuah Online Generator
Pingoat Sitemap Creator
Node Map Sitemap XML Creation Service
Neuroticweb.com Sitemap Generator
AudiMyPc.com Sitemap Generator
Web-design-pros.ca Sitemap.xml.gz Generator (Java Webstart Application)
Free Sitemap Generator
phpSitemapsNG
ScriptSocket Sitemap Generator
Google Sitemaps XML Validator
Google Sitemaps Information Center
AutoMapIt
Safe Area

SUBMITTING YOUR SITEMAP TO SEARCH ENGINES

Once you've created your sitemap, submit it to Google Webmaster Central, Yahoo Site Explorer and MSN's Live Search Webmaster Center.

HIGHLIGHTS

Remember to create two sitemaps; one for your visitors and the other for the search engines. Keep the HTML version simple and organize the information as succinctly as possible. For the XML version use a sitemap generator to streamline the work then submit it to Google, Yahoo! and MSN so they get updates as soon as you refresh your website with new content.

MORE TIPS?

If you have a tip of your own, add it below by leaving a comment.

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An article in the New York Times explains how the barrier between man and machine is fading away.

For decades, we've been stuck with the mouse, icons and drop-down menus, originally invented at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in the 1970s and made popular by Apple and Microsoft in the next decade.

How far have we come?

Personal digital assistants (PDAs) introduced a new, more familiar form of data input - the pen. These devices were popular with busy corporate types and health care professional but never caught on in the mainstream as a simple way of creating, editing and managing information on small devices.

Only in the last two years have two gadgets truly introduced something revolutionary in terms of data input.

The first is the Nintendo Wii, a gaming console the differs from its competitors by allowing for hand movements to control actions on the screen. Punching into the air will perform give upper-jab to your opponent on screen.

Named the product of the year in 2007, Apple's iPhone delivers a touch-screen interface, something never before experienced on a mobile phone.

And now, Multi-touch technology is being added to Apple laptops giving users the ability to scroll through documents, rotate pictures and open files by moving your fingers on the laptops trackpad.

Aside from gadgets, there are trends taking hold that will further simplify how we work and play in a world of computers.

The most obvious being the same way in which we communicate with each other; our voice.

John Markoff of the New York Times suggests that:

Voice, too, is finally beginning to play a significant role as an interface tool in a new generation of consumer-oriented wireless handsets. Many technologists now believe that hunting and pecking on the tiny keyboards of cellphones and P.D.A.’s will quickly give way to voice commands that will return map, text and other data displayed visually on small screens.

“We’re on the verge of creating something as compelling as touch, except with voice,” said Mike McCue, general manager of the Tellme subsidiary of Microsoft.

With more hardware and software utilizing speech technologies, the need for pre-programmed voice prompts will continue to create demand for professional voice talent who give the human touch.

And if history is any indication, the winning technologies are those that make the technical details invisible to the user and reassure that we, as humans, are still in control.

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News: There was a relatively short outage on Amazon’s S3 storage service a short while ago. Voices.com uses Amazon to host audio demos, but not auditions or files uploaded for SurePay escrow transactions.

Amazon continues to have issues, for more information see the Amazon forum.

In short, there’s little we can do about this outage, however we are monitoring forums, discussion groups and news outlets to inform you once all our servers get back online.

As one person put it, "this is the equivalent of an unexpected snowstorm, it’s completely outside our control."

Some recommended actions for those suffering problems seeing cards or widgets:

a) trying control-shift-reload on the broken page
b) right-clicking on a broken widget, going to “This frame..” and clicking “reload this frame” (firefox only)
c) clearing your cache.

Any or all of these actions may help, but if Amazon’s service is still down at the time of reload, it will remain broken.

We'll keep you updated as the day progresses.

UPDATE

Good news! The Amazon S3 Outage was short lived. From all accounts, this issue has been resolved, and I'm pleased to report that all Voices.com audio files are back online.

Thanks for your understanding.

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Photo by stevegarfield.

After the recent report that podcasting is on the rise in terms of both a larger listening audience and ad dollars spent on the medium, there's been significantly more chatter about how to start a podcast.

First and foremost, podcasting is about the content, not the technology. It's easy to get overwhelmed with technical details and special equipment, but it's really not that complicated.

Today, we're going to break it down into three simple steps; production, distribution and monetization.

PRODUCTION

Planning topics to discuss, possible guest interviews, and your show's length in advance will go a long way when producing a professional sounding podcast. Since you'll be recording your project in an almost live fashion, you will have the flexibility of going back and re-editing sections prior to committing your show as "podcast-ready".

Since nearly everyone has heard a radio program, you should expect that your listeners have grown accustomed to hearing material produced in a certain way. Here is a suggested framework for mapping out your production.

For best results, each podcast episode should be recorded at the same location using the same microphone and microphone positioning. This will create a consistent sound for your podcast episodes from week to week.

The best way to start your mix is think ahead with the end goal in mind. You most likely have a vision of what you want your finished podcast to sound like. Your goal is to maintain that sound from the beginning to the end of your podcast.

Balanced the volume levels of the voice-over(s), music and sound effects. You are now ready to export your podcast recording into an MP3, then upload the file to your web host for distribution.

DISTRIBUTION

Hosting

The purpose of web hosting is that you need somewhere to store your MP3 files, making them available to the world wide web. Look for a web host that will provide you with sufficient disk space for at least a years worth of podcasts. This would be 500MB of web server space.

A few good options include Libsyn and even WordPress has a podcasting solution now.

You can read more about podcast hosting options here.

Syndication

Inclusion in iTunes is a must as it's currently considered the default place to look for finding new podcasts. The Zune marketplace is growing quickly and Odeo is set to make a come back with it's relaunch within the next few months.

A service like Feedburner, which is owned by Google, is a smart way to ensure that your podcast RSS feed is formatted correctly for all the pod-catching software.

MONETIZATION

Once you've developed an audience and are getting some traction in terms of number of downloads per show, you can explore monetizing your podcast.

There are two primary ways that podcasters generate revenue from their podcasts, and they are ads and subscriptions.

Ads

Everyone loves free content and the no-cost element makes consuming to your podcast easy for new listeners and encourages word-of-mouth activity that's not typical of its paid counter part.

The ads could be audio ads embedded at either the beginning or end of your podcast, or ads known as inserstitials where the host of the podcast promotes a specific podcast.

Leo Laporte, host of This Week in Tech is currently running a campaign for Audible that is really more of a segment. Guests on the show share their favorite audiobooks and then they settle on the audiobook of the week. Naturally, it's very informal and comes across in the form of a book recommendation, rather than a sales pitch which is extremely effective.

Subscriptions

For more sought-after audio content such as training material, subscriptions are a great way for podcasters to monetize their programs.

The Project Management Prep Cast is a series of 80+ shows that prepare project managers to take an exam. It shares exactly what they need to know without all the irrelevant material. In short, this podcast is a time saver and maximizes the listening experience for project managers.

Similarly other training material can be packaged and sold a e-courses for distance learning, an approach to education that's been on the rise in the past decade.

Summary

Now that you've released your podcasts and are gaining a listenership, you can now take steps to measure and evaluate your success and take your podcast to the next level by expanding your audience.

There are plenty of great Internet marketing resources out there. Ebooks are great, as well as Internet marketing podcasts.

And, if you haven't yet, download the FREE Small Business Podcasting Kit.

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This tutorial covers how to export your Del.icio.us bookmarks by saving an XML file to your desktop, then importing that file into your personal Google account or your corporate Google Apps account.

You'll be amazed at how easy it is to do. Let's get started.

LOGIN TO YOUR NEW GOOGLE ACCOUNT

1. Login to your personal Google Account or if you'd like to import your Del.icio.us bookmarks into your corporate Google Apps account, login to that account now by visiting http://partnerpage.google.com/

Once you're signed into the Google Account, you're ready to move on to the next step.

SYNC DEL.ICIO.US WITH GOOGLE

2. Use this handy widget and enter in your del.icio.us username and password http://persistent.info/delicious2google/

I've synchronized at least a dozen accounts and had no issues or concerns about security. You can always change your del.icio.us password temporarily for the synchronization, then once this step is done, switch it back to your usual password.

CONFIRM THE SYNCHRONIZATION WAS SUCCESSFUL

3. Visit your Web History, then click "Bookmarks" on the sidebar to view all your Del.icio.us bookmarks, tags and notes successfully imported.

You're done!

BACKUP DEL.ICIO.US BOOKMARKS

While we're at it, take a moment to back-up your Del.icio.us bookmarks by saving the file to your personal computer.

4. Login to your del.icio.us account. Click on "Settings", then click "Ex-port/Backup".
5. Export / Backup, include my tags and include my notes
6. Click Export to XML and save the file to your "My Documents"

IMPORT DEL.ICIO.US BOOKMARKS INTO OTHER SOCIAL BOOKMARKING SERVICES

7. Once you're logged in to your social bookmarking website of choice, look for a link that say "Add Bookmarks" which is usually found in your profile or under the settings.
8. Browse your hard drive for the del.icio.us file and start the import.
9. Rinse and repeat with other social bookmarking websites.

Wasn't that easy?

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The Fast 50 is Fast Company magazine's annual readers' challenge, a worldwide search for ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Our goal is to remind the world of all the good that's created when passionate people with big ideas and strong convictions are determined to make a difference.

Each year, the challenge generates thousands of entries and tens of thousands of comments from around the world, and results in high-profile recognition of 50 leaders, innovators, and technology pioneers. This year's challenge promises to be bigger and better.

This year, Fast Company is looking for unsung heroes and rising stars among our readers: senior executives, in-the-trenches team leaders, engineers, marketers, and other high-impact players from all kinds of backgrounds.

Fast Company: What's your big idea? Please tell us how this Fast 50 Nominee is helping to address the planet's problems.

Voices.com: Voices.com gives organizations the ability to spread their messages using the human voice to persuade others to take notice and inspire action.

Fast Company: Please describe how this nominee is using business as a force of positive change. What technology, idea, or strategy is the nominee using -- and what problem, such as global warming, poverty, or pollution, does it address?

Voices.com: Issues of great international and personal interest are addressed on a daily basis through jobs that are posted to voice-over professionals at Voices.com. Urgency translates directly through vocal performance, and the final product, an audio recording of an important message, is promptly and cost-effectively acquired by people who work to change the world, using the voice-over as a primary agent of change. Studies have proven that voice-overs are extremely effective, that they affect and move people, and also that the unique voice print of an individual cannot be replicated or compared to any other form of communication.

Fast Company: What are the results, both financial and social? How has the nominee's business performed, and what impact has it had on the problem it addresses?

Voices.com: Voices.com achieved a 62 percent increase in gross sales year-over-year as a result of sound business practices and a strong management team.

Going directly to freelance professional voice actors saves companies and organizations money and streamlines the hiring process. Not just any message gets through, however. A part of the job approval process is to seek out projects that are noble, upright and life altering for the betterment of humankind.

The editors at Fast Company will announce the winners of the Fast 50 in January 2008.

Until then, feel free to add your comments to our entry or read and review other entries as they come in at www.fastcompany.com/fast50.

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A microphone preamp is a device used to amplify the voltage taken from a microphone to a higher, more usable level. Most microphones must be used in conjunction with a microphone preamp to function properly.

Even with the best instruments, microphones and recording gear, the quality of your recordings depends greatly on your preamps.

Let's dive in and learn about the differences between hardware and software preamps, as well as how to choose the right preamplifier for your home recording studio.

Why Use a Preamp?

Most audio engineers would assert that a microphone preamp affects the sound quality of a recording just as much as the microphone itself. Treating your signal path to the right preamp is important to attaining the sound your voice-over calls for.

Hardware Preamps

Many mixing boards or desks have microphone preamps built in. There are also a plethora of external preamps from which to choose, which is great for adding the exact tone and feature set you need for your setup.

As an example, the TubePRE is the highest quality vacuum tube preamp in its class. Loaded with PreSonus award winning dual servo preamplifier, the TubePre affordably delivers low noise tube warmth for vocals, guitars, bass guitars, synths and sound modules. The TubePre noticeably outperforms preamps in low cost mixers and recording interfaces making it an easy choice for anyone desiring to enhance their recordings with the magic of tubes.

Software Preamps

Many USB microphones come bundled with preamplifier software that provider additional control and gain adjustment to the signal being recorded. Software preamps are purely digital, therefore do not amplify the voltage of the microphone. The software simulates an increase to the audio signal and therefore doesn't offer nearly the quality or characteristics of a traditional analog microphone preamplifier.

USB microphones will work without the software using the standard drivers included in your computer's operating system. However if you would like added functionality of the preamp software (Input Level Meter, Volume control, High-pass filter and Phase Switch), ensure your computer meets the minimum system requirements of your microphone's manufacturer.

How To Select a Microphone Preamp

As with most pieces of audio equipment, price and performance are the two criteria you should consider when selecting a microphone preamp in your home recording studio.

Microphone preamps come in many shapes and sizes, and vary greatly in price from a few dollars to many thousands of dollars. Many mixing boards or desks have microphone preamps built in.

Summary

Remember that the preamplifier is a critical part of your signal chain and will significantly increase the quality of your audio recordings. If you're looking to add on to your home studio, the preamplifier is a good place to start.

Did you find this information helpful?

I look forward to hearing from you.

David

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A microphone, sometimes referred to as a mike or mic captures the sound of your voice and converts that sound into an electrical signal.

All modern microphones are designed to accomplish the same thing. A microphone takes varying pressure waves in the air and convert them into varying electrical signals.

There are five different technologies commonly used to accomplish this conversion:

Carbon Microphones

The oldest and simplest microphone uses carbon dust. This is the technology used in the first telephones and is still used in some telephones today. The carbon dust has a thin metal or plastic diaphragm on one side. As sound waves hit the diaphragm, they compress the carbon dust, which changes its resistance. By running a current through the carbon, the changing resistance changes the amount of current that flows.

Dynamic Microphones

A dynamic microphone takes advantage of electromagnet effects. When a magnet moves past a wire (or coil of wire), the magnet induces current to flow in the wire. In a dynamic microphone, the diaphragm moves either a magnet or a coil when sound waves hit the diaphragm, and the movement creates a small current.

Condenser Microphones

A condenser microphone is essentially a capacitor, with one plate of the capacitor moving in response to sound waves. The movement changes the capacitance of the capacitor, and these changes are amplified to create a measurable signal. Condenser microphones usually need a small battery to provide a voltage across the capacitor, Phantom Power or USB power from a computer. At Voices.com, we've chosen the Samson USB Condenser CO1U microphone for recording the Vox Talk podcast and the new Voice Casting podcast.

Ribbon Microphones

In a ribbon microphone, a thin ribbon is suspended in a magnetic field. Sound waves move the ribbon which changes the current flowing through it. You can read a review of the Samson VR88 ribbon microphone at eMusician.

Crystal Microphones

Certain crystals change their electrical properties as they change shape (see How Quartz Watches Work for one example of this phenomenon). By attaching a diaphragm to a crystal, the crystal will create a signal when sound waves hit the diaphragm.

Which Microphones Do You Use?

As you know, many studio owners and voice-over talent have a number of microphones for different applications.

Which microphones do you have and why you like them?

Add your comments below!

David

Source: Wikipedia, HowStuffWorks, OIART.

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Over the next few articles, we'll be discussing "The Signal Chain", audio engineer speak for the steps that a sound takes during the recording process.

The decisive factor for judging the sound quality of an audio production is subjective and influenced by current trends.

Having said that, knowing and optimizing the signal chain in your recording studio will ensure the best possible sound with the equipment readily available to you. It is important for you to understand what each component in the signal chain requires to perform at its optimum state, and that's precisely what this series aims to teach you.

Let's dive in...

First, let's look at the three types of sound sources.

Acoustic Sources

Most commonly, the signal chain starts with an acoustic source. During music recording sessions, this source could be an instrument such as an acoustic guitar, bass, drums, piano, violin, harp and so on. The human voice is also considered an acoustic source, and since this website is all about voice overs, we'll be using the voice as the starting point in the signal chain.

Electric Sources

These sources have audio outputs that can be plugged directly into a pre amplifier or recording device. Examples include a bass guitar amplifier, electric keyboard, synthesizer, drum machine etc...

Digital Sources

The third and final source is what I call digital sources. These sounds are computer based such as software used to produce sounds or sound effects that are pre-recorded. Some examples include Reason, Fruity Loops and Apple even has Jam Packs available for sale.

Summary

Now that you have an overview of the three sources of sound, we'll be moving forward in the series of tutorials with a focus on the recording of voice-overs.

Are You Finding This Information to be Helpful?

Add a comment!

David

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