Source:  google.com

As many of you already know, Google launched a new service called the Google Custom Search Engine. Google’s CSE program, which is built from the Google Co-op platform, allows users to create their own Google search engine, including selecting the sites you want searched. Since this has been covered literally everywhere, I’ll keep my write-up to a minimum, briefly highlighting some of the features.

- Users can financially leverage their CSE with AdSense
- Control the look and feel
- Refine search results
- Include your personal search engine on your site

These are just an example of the control Google is providing users who are interested in developing a “personalized” Google search engine. To find out more, please read their FAQ. As with the other Google programs, in order to participate, you must have a Google account.

The Google Custom Search Engine service will let anyone, from individuals to organizations, put a Google-powered search box on their Web sites that only searches certain sites and pages. That way, the publisher of a Web site about, say, hockey, could put a search box on his home page that only returns links to pages about that sport that he hand-picked. The service will also let publishers have a search engine that taps Google’s index in full but gives preference to results from Web sites they have pre-selected.

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Source: avivadirectory.com

Witnessing the launch of a blog as successful as Performancing’s First two weeks might lead you to think that launching a successful blog is easy… well, it’s NOT. Thousands of new blogs are launched every day, but only a handful ever get read by more than a few hundred people, and even fewer ever make a dollar’s profit. While a site can survive a terrible launch the cost is high, and the truth is, most never recover. With no money coming in, and a readership which can be counted in the dozens, it’s no wonder that the vast majority of bloggers give up and shut down their site within a year.

The 21 points included in this checklist will cover the basics of what you need to do during those all-important first two weeks of your blog’s life. While there are no guarantees in the blogosphere, if you follow these launching tips closely, your chances of success are greatly improved.

The First Impression

1. Connect with your readers through an about page and welcome message. One of the best ways to make a lasting impact is to connect on a personal level with your readers. That means letting them know who you are and what your background is. You don’t necessarily need an author pic to relate to your readers, but you should find some way to allow readers to connect with you on a personal as well as a professional level to develop some rapport.

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By: David A. Utter | Source: webpronews.com

Bringing your website into the voluminous BigTable of Google’s index involves sending out pieces of code, referred to as spiders or crawlers affectionately named "Googlebot," to pick up your site. Google Webmaster Central has some tips for webmasters showing how they can learn more about Googlebot.

October is a perfect month for discussing spiders and other things that crawl silently in the dark, their passage not disturbing the air, undetectable by the normal senses, yet their presence is felt by webmasters everywhere, finding its way into their worrisome dream-filled sleep…

While Fox has not yet attained the devoted following that Matt Cutts has, the continued updates at Webmaster Central should make her as sought after as her rockstar fellow Googler. Anything that helps webmasters make their site easier to find on Google for people will get a webmaster’s attention.

The Googlebot represents the gateway to Google’s index. Fox explained some new features related to the Googlebot that should be helpful, the first one being Googlebot activity reports:

We show you the number of pages Googlebot’s crawled from your site per day, the number of kilobytes of data Googlebot’s downloaded per day, and the average time it took Googlebot to download pages. Webmaster tools show each of these for the last 90 days.

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