In my MIST 7700 class, I have had the opportunity to work with OpenOffice. Though I had heard of it many times before and had been sent odt files, I held off on downloading it until this class. One feature I really appreciate is "find & replace". This has been useful in my conversion of two Managing Data Exchange chapters from XML format to Global Text Project Format. Without "find & replace, this process can be rather gruesome. Thankfully, this function enables you to select all text in the document that has the same style, and change that entire group of text to a different style. With the extremely long document I had to change, being able to do this in a couple of clicks made all of the difference. Also, completing this task was completed with less errors in changing styles.
In general, the transition to OpenOffice from Microsoft Office has not been as smooth as expected. Though I have no problem at all opening preexisting .doc files in OpenOffice and also have the option to save it as a .doc or odt. file, I have not had the same luck in opening my Access database files. I'm still trying to research and see if I may be missing something (i.e. some other method of perhaps converting the database file before trying to open it), but nothing has worked initially. I still need to try opening spreadsheets, but I assume this will not be an issue.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Assignment G
G2 - Wordia Video Preparation -
Best practices for producing and distributing video on the Web.
Say there is a company that has produced a great how-to-video on making widgets. The next thing they need to think about is how they are going to publish or distribute this video on the web. When posting videos online there are a couple of things to consider. First what is the goal of posting it? Is it to start a viral marketing campaign about a social issue or is it to provide a service on the company's website to draw more people in? And secondly, what kind of web server does the company have and how knowledgeable is the webmaster? The answers to those questions can help the company decide whether to host the video on their on server or post your video to a sharing site such as YouTube.
Benefits and concerns of a company hosting its own videos:
Hosting your own video can draw more visitors to your site, enable you to customize how everything on the page looks, and one can choose to sell ads or not. There are a few things that need to be in place before this is a viable option. First, you have to know how to work with the video files if you are going to host your own videos. The webmaster will have to encode the video into a different format to incorporate it into the website. For example a lot of videos are edited using mpeg or avi but to put them on the web in an easily usable form they need to be in Flash (by Adobe) or Quicktime (by Apple). Most web videos are streamed using Flash. The second thing to consider is can I afford the bandwidth? Video files are large and require a lot of bandwidth to host.
Search Engine Optimizations tips:
Limit each page to one video, allow the URL to be specific to a video, place all videos in a central folder/directory, use an embedded player in the page instead of a popup, use text on the page to describe the video, use tags and meta tags to help search engines, submit the video to Google sitemaps to help speed up the indexing of the video for search, and allow users to share the video with friends by providing the url or providing social networking links.
Benefits and concerns of a company posting videos:
Unlike a hosted solution that requires video conversion, the posted solution takes care of converting the video files, and they pay for the bandwidth. Also, most of these sites, like YouTube, MetaCafe, or GoogleVideo, have a good reputation and a large user base that is constantly watching videos and sharing the videos with friends. This is a great solution for any type of viral marketing campaign. Popular YouTube videos are tied into universal search (incorporated into Google "web search", people don't have to be specifically searching for videos to be shown videos on that topic ) in Google which is a great way to publicize a video. Going with a posted solution however, you lose the full customization over the look of the page and whether ads are shown. In most video sharing sites, ads are displayed. Some ads maybe images or text but some maybe videos that play before your video is shown. In some cases this could be an ad for a competitor.
Search Engine Optimization tips:
Post your website URL in the description of the video, create your own account/channel/brand to allow people to follow all of your videos and any future updates, use your url in a watermark in the video because these might be copied and posted elsewhere (it is viral), allow comments and ratings to generate user excitement and discussion, and use tubemogul.com to upload the video to all major sharing sites and see analytics on those videos. TubeMogul looks like a very powerful tool for businesses or individuals to track videos all over the web.
Information from http://www.reelseo.com/seo-best-practices/
Best practices for producing and distributing video on the Web.
Say there is a company that has produced a great how-to-video on making widgets. The next thing they need to think about is how they are going to publish or distribute this video on the web. When posting videos online there are a couple of things to consider. First what is the goal of posting it? Is it to start a viral marketing campaign about a social issue or is it to provide a service on the company's website to draw more people in? And secondly, what kind of web server does the company have and how knowledgeable is the webmaster? The answers to those questions can help the company decide whether to host the video on their on server or post your video to a sharing site such as YouTube.
Benefits and concerns of a company hosting its own videos:
Hosting your own video can draw more visitors to your site, enable you to customize how everything on the page looks, and one can choose to sell ads or not. There are a few things that need to be in place before this is a viable option. First, you have to know how to work with the video files if you are going to host your own videos. The webmaster will have to encode the video into a different format to incorporate it into the website. For example a lot of videos are edited using mpeg or avi but to put them on the web in an easily usable form they need to be in Flash (by Adobe) or Quicktime (by Apple). Most web videos are streamed using Flash. The second thing to consider is can I afford the bandwidth? Video files are large and require a lot of bandwidth to host.
Search Engine Optimizations tips:
Limit each page to one video, allow the URL to be specific to a video, place all videos in a central folder/directory, use an embedded player in the page instead of a popup, use text on the page to describe the video, use tags and meta tags to help search engines, submit the video to Google sitemaps to help speed up the indexing of the video for search, and allow users to share the video with friends by providing the url or providing social networking links.
Benefits and concerns of a company posting videos:
Unlike a hosted solution that requires video conversion, the posted solution takes care of converting the video files, and they pay for the bandwidth. Also, most of these sites, like YouTube, MetaCafe, or GoogleVideo, have a good reputation and a large user base that is constantly watching videos and sharing the videos with friends. This is a great solution for any type of viral marketing campaign. Popular YouTube videos are tied into universal search (incorporated into Google "web search", people don't have to be specifically searching for videos to be shown videos on that topic ) in Google which is a great way to publicize a video. Going with a posted solution however, you lose the full customization over the look of the page and whether ads are shown. In most video sharing sites, ads are displayed. Some ads maybe images or text but some maybe videos that play before your video is shown. In some cases this could be an ad for a competitor.
Search Engine Optimization tips:
Post your website URL in the description of the video, create your own account/channel/brand to allow people to follow all of your videos and any future updates, use your url in a watermark in the video because these might be copied and posted elsewhere (it is viral), allow comments and ratings to generate user excitement and discussion, and use tubemogul.com to upload the video to all major sharing sites and see analytics on those videos. TubeMogul looks like a very powerful tool for businesses or individuals to track videos all over the web.
Information from http://www.reelseo.com/seo-best-practices/
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Web Site Attractiveness
Web pages can be made to look more attractive and appealing by considering several factors that will initially attract, as well as keep the attention of viewers. You can make your site more aesthetically pleasing by using a particular color scheme that will arouse positive emotions, changing the layout to be more user-friendly, or altering the messages and titles to fit those that will draw in the visitor.
Many people think that SEO and SEM are the same thing, but they are slightly different. In actuality, while SEM (Search Engine Marketing) increases website traffic and "stickiness" by increasing its visibility in search engines, SEO is different in that it accomplishes this via unpaid, "natural" methods. All in all, the main purpose of SEO/SEM is to put a website higher on a list of results, increasing the chances that it will be chosen. Those searching for the most "popular" or "legitimate" site typically expect to find it at the top of their search results, ignoring sites at the bottom of the page or the pages that follow.
Other design elements that can contribute to the attractiveness of a website include:
1. Audio/Music - adding an audio/music file that plays upon entering the site can aid in setting the intended theme or mood.
2. Font - Readability is essential in encouraging visitors to read the content of your site. While it may initially look nice to have an elaborate cursive font, it loses a great deal of functionality when it comes to reading.
3. Form/Shape - You must decide if you want objects and shapes on your site to be sharp and harsh, or if you want them to be smooth and flowing. Sharp lines can be used as an abrupt and shocking way to draw in site visitors, or you mmay use the latter to foster a tranquil experience.
Web Analytics
Web Analytics is defined as the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_analytics). What is typically being measured on a site depends on which of two kinds of web analytics is being used. Off-site web analytics measures a website's opportunity, visibility, and comments, while on-site web analytics measures a visitor's journey through the site.
In regard to tools currently available to measure web analytics on my blog, Google Analytics is an option and readily available for those who have a Google account. It provides insight into web traffic and marketing effectiveness. Though the latter is not of great importance in my scenario, knowing about web traffic would be helpful.
Yahoo also has their own web analytics tool offering real-time user behavior and information on the demographics and category interests of your site visitors. It uses IndexTools software to gather this information. However, it does not seem to be as freely available as Google Analytics.
Another tool is Piwik which is a downloadable, open source PHP MySQL software program. It says says openly that it aims to serve as an alternative to Google Analytics, and it seems to offer more detailed information such as visitor languages and key words they use(d).
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