Possible Windows Live ID bug preventing http://webmaster.live.com signup

Thanks to Nataliya for sending the email.

Look like there is a possible Windows Live ID bug which we are looking into when trying to sign up for http://webmaster.live.com,

you have to sign up for a Windows Live Id, so it seems the sign up process is being a bit problematic and asking for 8 characters when only showing 7, as she shares a screen shot below.

We hope to have this taken care of quickly so sign up can continue :) Stay tuned we'll let you know the updates, I have already forwarded this on and am awaiting to hear back.

Thanks Nataliya for sending this my way.

BlogHer Business Conference 2008 NY

Today starts the BlogHer Business conference 2008 here in NY

It's a pretty small group of women but seems pretty influential. I started the day meeting with Nelly Yusupova.

So she's totally cool, and she comes from the former Soviet. Well technically I am too, but I was born in Iran, though I am Armenian. She is from Tajikistan, which I think is funny, when you search on http://Google.com for keyword 'Tajikistan' the second organic link is from the CIA, check this out, YES and the same thing happens for Armenia too, seems CIA is doing some SEO work too?

Anyway Nelly is super cool, she will be our moderator later today for our Microsoft panel at BlogHer, so stay tuned to find out how it goes. When I bragged about the reading I had done about Nelly, she blushed. It was pretty cool actually, love the fact I could read so much about her :) before I met her.

So here is what the description reads and you can find out more on the BlogHer Business Conference 2008 site.

"Microsoft: Microsoft has a history of sending employee bloggers out into the online community to foster better developer and user relations. Nelly Yusupova interviews three prominent Microsoft bloggers, Ani Babaian, Sara Ford and Ariel Stallings, about how their Microsoft blogging builds a bridge between the world of corporate social media engagement and their own personal technology passions."

Then I went down and stayed for part of they keynote which was BlogHer Business Day One: State of the Social Media World, check it out! Now I am back to my room to get some sleep since I got about 3 hours last night while I was working on the fun project on Facebook 'become a fan of page' for  http://wembaster.live.com and prepping for next week's SMX Sydney event 2008. So go check it out and make a me proud! I only have 2 fans so far, me and a nice person from Germany I think.

Creation of http://www.LivewithAni.com

So you are probably wondering why a new blog? Well, it's simple, since I become the Senior Product Manager for http://Webmaster.Live.com, I wanted to run a test case to see if I can use all the tools out there and learn SEO (Search Engine Optimization) using public knowledge to rank better organically when people search for me on Search Engines like www.live.com ,www.google.com ,www.yahoo.com and www.ask.com.

So I started by registering the domain name, www.LiveWithAni.com with www.GoDaddy.com then tried several blog engines until I found TypePad. And from now on I will be posting what I learn and how that will help me rise to the top, I hope, I do promise to share the tips I learn and only use external knowledge (i.e. things you can use as well being outside of Microsoft), so here's the story...

P.S.

Incase you are wondering that is Live with Ani, so similar to www.live.com pronunciation, not Live with Ani, so to live with someone. :) Okay so I tried to be catchy, a bit hard to do when I'm geeky. You'll also hear something's I see as a tech Chick

setup your own 'Become a Fan' page on Facebook!

Okay so after a long time I have finally joined Facebook, and now it is time to for me to expand my wings and write my own 'Become a Fan' page on Facebook, so now here it is! I have created the 'http://Webmaster.Live.com' page, I like it, but do you?

So go check it out and tell me all about it at Facebook Webmaster.live.com.

And if you want to create your own then follow this link: http://hs.facebook.com/pages/create.php and start one today!

empowering women by eliminating racism - powered by Microsoft

{iGive=y};

Help Microsoft support the YWCA in honor of National Women’s History month in March by exchanging a donation for a limited edition iGive shirt.  The shirts will be distributed by members of Microsoft’s Developer Platform & Evangelism team at Mix 08 on March 7 & 8^th in Las Vegas, and March 12 & 13^th in New York City.   

If you are at MIX, on March 7^th, come collect a shirt by sending off the Code Trip team on their adventures. The bus will be leaving from the Sands Expo loading area which is part of the Venetian conference centers.  Simply go to the first floor of the convention room areas (instead of heading up the escalator to MIX, head down) and follow the signs to the Sands Expo area.

If you want to participate, follow these 5 easy steps:

Step1. Donate to the YWCA.

Step2. Print out your receipt.

Step3. Attend MIX08 or the FSDevCon. Mix 08 on March 7 & 8^th in Las Vegas or FSDevCon March 12 & 13^th in New York City.

Step4.       Find a member of Microsoft’s Developer Platform & Evangelism group at either event.

Step5. Make the trade. Swap your receipt for a limited edition Swarovski crystal studded iGive serialized shirt. One serial shirt per person (2 in series : Vegas & NYC).

In honor of National Women’s History Month Microsoft is supporting the YWCA with the iGive program.  YWCA organization’s mission is to eliminate racism and empower women. The YWCA  helps build strong women leaders and serves as an advocate for women's rights and civil rights in Congress. 

If you are at MIX look me up I will be happy to give you a shirt with a proof of donation. :)

my new book about Excel 2007

Check out my new book coming August of 2008 all for chicks who want to learn more about technology.

The IT Girl's Guide to Becoming an Excel Diva by Ani Babaian (Paperback - Aug 25, 2008) Pre-order: $24.99

New to SEO? SMX West 2008 - SEO and Blogging

Linking Q&A - This panel of search representatives and search marketers takes questions about linking, from link building, to issues about buying links, to internal linkage and more. Read more about SMX West 2008 agenda...

Ask your questions at: http://smxwest.com/ask.php?sess=116

Speakers:

• Nathan Buggia, Lead Program Manager, Live Search Webmaster Central, Microsoft
• Matt Cutts, Software Engineer, Google
• Priyank Garg, Director Product Management, Yahoo! Search
• Rae Hoffman, Principal, Sugarrae Internet Consulting
• Peter Linsley, Senior Product Manager, Search, Ask.com
• Todd Malicoat, Independent Search Engine Marketing Consultant, ,Stuntdubl

We plan to move our domain how do I make sure our link stay?

1. So you might try to do 301's is what someone said.
2. If you want to be very safe, then move one part of your site first is what Matt Cutts has to say from Google. Then do the rest.
3. Engage a reputable SEO because there is a whole lot that can go wrong said Nathan Buggia of Microsoft.

How important are .edu or .gov links are they important? do we want them?

1. It depends how current and fresh the link is.
2. spam doesn't seem to exist as much on .edu and .gov so they tend to be better websites in that way.

Ask.com said you don't have to use no follow on paid links is that the case?

1. well checkout SearchEngineland's article: The 2007 Paid link War, in Review where you can check out all the quotes from the search engines about it.

What's the definition of a paid link?

(Ani comment...All right who ever asked this, man what a debate you started, seems like everyone wants to comment on this three times before they let it go and every panel member has answered this.)

1. So there is two notions of paid link, which is I have a website that has a link that goes nowhere but someone paid me to put the link on my site (okay so that's not really good). But....if you have a legitimate site that you want to put a link on your page to point to that site because they are a hospital or a legitimate business, then that would be a good paid link.
2. But now we are getting into a debate about what is good and what is a bad link. So there is a big pain point seems like for illegitimate paid links and good paid links which is near and dear to Google and Microsoft's heart as well as other experts in the industry.
3. Nice Nathan Buggia puts in a plug for Microsoft is hiring in the Live Search group... check out Microsoft's Careers site to apply. And Seattle, WA is beautiful this time of year!!!!

If a link has been turned into a 301 how will that be handled? (so if I have a page that I then turn the page into a 301 then what happens to it) Check out what is 301 to find out more about 301

1. 301 should be fine, so if the content is the same thing then you should be golden.
2. Essentially if you do use a 301 in a website and it looks like a relevant page then  you are fine, but if you do have 3 sequential 301's then it might not count for 100%.

Link sabotage fact or fiction, can it help or hurt you?

1. Keep an eye on your access logs and if you do see sites that have not been there before that is a good sign something is wrong.
2. Do report links that are trying to sabotage you is what Yahoo! had to say.

I got a website and some company buy my company and Google sees the domain name registration change, have I lost my linking credit and how links are flown to it?

1. No there is really not change in ranking.
2. If the industries change however, then you will see a drop.
3. Also, do not change the design of your webpage at the same time as changing the domain. So make sure to have incremental changes.

How concerned should we be if sites linking to me turn bad and are (spam sites)?

1. Site explorer report spam,
2. you can't really control that.

What is the good pace to build at?

1. depends on what you are starting with, so if you are starting with 1000 links so adding a 100 is no big deal but if you are new then 1000 links is a bit to much.
2. Check your industry

 

Technorati Tags: SMX West 2008,SMX West 2008 Agenda,Webmaster,New to SEO,Linking to websites,SEO linking,301 redirect,what is 301,link sabotage,Microsoft hiring,Microsoft.com/career

New to SEO? SMX West 2008 - History of Search engines

The history of Search Engines then dove into the meat of it. So did you know? There is rocket science to search engine. Search engines were actually started by NASA to help them find documents and information they had in house during 1950's.

Anyway the first Search engine was ARPA in 1958, followed by WWW concept which was born in 1989 and finally in 1990 the first search engine was found. Since there here is a summary of the timeline:

1. 1991 - Gopher
2. 1992 - Excite
3. 1994 - Lycos, Altavista, Yahoo!, Inktomi, infoseek, webcrawl
4. 1997 - Google, Ask Jeevs
5. 1998 - MSN

New to SEO? SMX West 2008 agenda

Okay so you couldn't make it to SMX West 2008 and are wondering what the agenda is, and what we are up to here. Well here is the Agenda for SMX West 2008 and where you can learn more...

New to SEO? SMX West 2008 Paid search fundamentals

What is PPC? Paid per click. You can utilize Google adwords. You can also write different adds yourself.

Always know it takes 5-50 times of search before a purchase happens. People begin by searching then narrow their search until a purchase happens.

Do you want to be first or second when search results are pulled up (aka blue links)? Well NLP (Neuro-linguistic programming) research says if catering to men then be first if you are catering to women then 3 or 4th is better. Guess it comes from our nature of women like to find out what there is before they click, where as men want to be everywhere and will click on what's first? Okay that is what Matt Van Wagner had to say in this session.

He mentioned Microsoft adCenter tools again (adCenter Add-inBeta for Excel 2007), which is great :)

You know what was cool about this session is rather than asking questions you can type them to: http://smxwest.com/ask.php?sess=106 and get your questions answered, rather than standing up and speaking :) So maybe if you are reading this now you can ask questions and not even be here? spooky!

New to SEO and webmaster tools?

So as you may have already heard/red I have changed roles. In my new role I will be focusing on SEO and Webmaster tools. You can ready more about it here.

So I thought I would blog everywhere I go and the things I hear and learn from people to help the reader learn the new things as I do regarding SEO and webmaster tools. So this week I am SMX West 2008 in Santa Clara, CA attending sessions, meeting people and will be in the Microsoft booth.

If you are at the conference stop by the Microsoft booth and say hello to me. Otherwise I always welcome comments. Oh and I signed up on facebook and twitter. I never thought I would, really! But seems everyone is there. My twitter name is Siroon, look me up :)

So look out for "New to SEO?" in my title of blogs to follow and learn what I learn about SEO. :)

New to SEO? SMX West 2008 - Copywriting For Search Success

So for those of us who think we can just bundle a bunch of keywords to make our sites or blogs easily discoverable on Google, Live.com, Yahoo or other search engines, that worked in the 90's but that time is over folks.

The best thing to do after you discover the keywords from using the tools on my previous post about keyword research, it's not enough to just put them on your site everywhere, but to put them in a way that builds trust with your viewers. By just dumping a bunch of key terms you risk being kicked off the index list of Google. Which means you will no longer be discoverable when people search for terms your website/blog services. bummer... :(

It's also key to have the right kind of a title, a title does a lot. If you are able to hand create a title that will help others find you.

always always talk about your benefits, don't assume that people know what your sites/blogs benefits are.

Now check out http://www.SearchEngineWriting.com which is what Heather covered during her talk in this session. You can learn more about Heather Lloyd-Martin. She is all excited to announce her companies developers were up all night pulling the above website together for search engine writing.

New to SEO? SMX West 2008 Keyword Research Tools & Techniques

Christine Churchill began the SMX Boot camp sequence this AM with the first session on Keyword Research Tools and Techniques. It was a pretty good session for a newbie to SEO.

She listed a set of tools to use some free and others paid amongst these were:

• Trillian
• Google Webmaster tools
• Vivisimo (for clustering)
• Yahoo
• Ask.com
• Google.com/Trends and Google.com/trends/hottrends
• MS Add intelligence with adCenter Add-inBeta for Excel 2007. You do need Office 2007 for this to work, but if you use the link above you can download office for a 60 day trial.
• tools.seobook.com/keyword-list/generator.php
• trillian comp intelligence

XAMLChick on the move to SEO and webmaster land...

What do SEO, webmaster tools and I have in common?

Well I have taken a new role with the Live Search team and will be focusing on the Search Engine Optimization and webmaster tools. This will be a little stretch for me, since it will be out of my normal Developer technologies, but I will be working with technologies on the Web still which is where I am most comfortable. I love the opportunity to work with this team. Some of the people I have worked with before and others are new.

For those of you hearing SEO or Webmaster tools for the first time here is a bit of background and definition. With search now driving more than 30% of all traffic to many websites, the answer to this question could have a significant impact on your business.

If you’re still wondering what SEO is you can read more about it here.

I am just thrilled and very excited to be working with this team. This is an arena which is very valuable I feel for the future of online commerce and social networking which has been picking up. I look forward to the new audience and people I will meet and help while in this role.

For those of you wondering who will take over my Developer Identity (CardSpace, ADFS, etc.) duties, well the team I was a part of is doing a fantastic job bringing that together. So stay tuned to hear more about SEO and Webmaster tools!

As a way to start driving more traffic to your website you can go to: http://webmaster.live.com/ to sign up for the webmaster tools Beta program! You can also look at the Webmaster blog page and read more about how to make your websites more discoverable.

Let's Help him -- Wanting to blog around the world?

When I was a Developer Evangelist we started this idea called: ".NET Bring your family." I thought it was a pretty good idea...until now. :)  The idea was simple technologist come to learn about technology (i.e. .NET), spouces come to learn about Office and Vista and the children come to learn about .NET Robotics studio and XNA learn more here

The idea has taken off by itself and I just got an email from the University of Montana that one of the kids has started a blog project who came to the .NET event and learned about .NET Robotics studio. This time his science project is to get as many hits as he can from around the world.

Come on help him out, go to his blog site and help him get hits! you can find him here: http://aroundtheworldscience.blogspot.com/