Their broadband speed test has been designed in conjunction with thinkbroadband. It may take a couple of minutes to run, but should give you a very good indication of your home broadband speed – and whether or not you’re getting close to the speeds your ISP has advertised.

We at Direct Submit would encourage ISP’s to give honest and accurate broadband speed information to the customer – removing the infamous ‘up to’ catch all they use when advertisng their services. Here’s hoping…

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While speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Stone said that Twitter users perform more than 800 million searches on the site each day, a number larger than Yahoo! and Bing combined. Stone said that the high volume of searches proves that Twitter is more than just a social media network.

“That’s been a myth since the beginning,” he said. “We’re much more like an information network or a source of news.”

However, many people are skeptical about Stone’s claims of such high volume of Twitter searches. Robert Andrews of PaidContent.org said that Stone is using an apples-to-oranges way of comparing Twitter to leading search engines since people are searching for different types of content on each type of site.

Another problem, as pointed out by the San Francisco Chronicle, is that Stone is counting automated messages sent by apps like Tweet Deck that “are actually just automated calls those apps send out every few minutes to populate columns users have set up to see tweets on certain topics.”

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According to the announcement, searchers won’t see the difference by simply looking at the overall page, but may notice differences in how Yahoo! displays certain search results. This is because Yahoo! is testing a host of new product configurations.

Yahoo! expects that organic search listings will be 100 percent powered by the Microsoft platform starting in August and September, while paid search should be fully powered by October.

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For many businesses the focus when starting out on their Internet campaign is the design of a great looking website, a website that not only looks good but also reflects the right image for the business. However, it is also very important that the company website lists well in the major search engines and many businesses quickly move to measuring the value of their website in terms of the number of visitors to the website. Why, because what is the point of having a great looking website if no one can find it and it attracts only minimal traffic. Businesses quickly become aware that increased levels of traffic can potentially lead to potential for increased sales and market profile.

One thing to consider is that over 80% of all Internet traffic comes from the major search engines with Google, Yahoo and MSN currently responsible for the vast majority of all Internet traffic. With such an overwhelming amount of traffic coming from the search engines, it makes sense to put a lot of effort getting your website noticed.

Regardless of how you measure the success of your website, the bottom line is that to succeed on the Internet you are going to have to bring more visitors that are looking for the information, content and/or products that you are providing.

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The answer is “by using keywords and key phrases in your website content.” These are the words that people type into search engines when they are looking for something.

Choosing and researching good keywords is a process that takes several steps that can essentially be broken down into the following stages:

Initial keyword Research
Have a brain storming session with your staff and, if possible, customers. Ask other people for ideas, too, including your family, try to get as many opinions as possible. You will often discover that what you consider your optimal key phrases are not those typically used by your customers.

Use Key Word Research Tools
There are several online keyword research tools that offer information about the number of times users perform searches for specific words. These can help you identify key phrases ‘related’ to your products or services that might help generate quality traffic to your website.

Selecting of Key Words
Use the research you have done and select the most appropriate key words that is likely to deliver the best results for your business. Note this may mean you choose a key phrase that isn’t the most searched for (which will probably be the most ‘competitive’ in terms of achieving a page 1 result on the web) but which will bring you high quality traffic in numbers that should help generate you business.

Analytics
After you’ve chosen your keywords and optimized your site, you need to perform measurements to see whether it’s delivering the amount of traffic and conversions you expected. You can use this information to make adjustments and refine your keyword strategy.

The above represents a fairly basic overview of choosing effective key phrases for your website and the web is full of more in depth articles and guides to help you.

For more information on choosing the right key words for your website call Direct Submit and see how we can help you make the most of your Internet project.

Companies like Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. are dedicating the top of their search engine results pages to panels that allow users to refine queries by category; to information that attempts to directly answer questions; and to quick links to businesses where they can buy tickets, songs, meals or products.

In the process, the companies are working harder to understand user intentions, exercising greater judgment about the credibility of online sources and, in some cases, pointing consumers to their own services.

“The layout of the search engine results page has gotten a lot more diverse and lively than it’s ever been in the past,” said Kevin Lee, chief executive of New York search marketing agency Didit. “There’s a drive toward relevance and trusted information sources, but also toward potentially being the information source yourself, so you can make more money off of it.”

The trend will often make it easier and safer for people to quickly accomplish tasks online, by delivering users information directly and steering them clear of untrustworthy or malicious sites, he said. But it can also make it more difficult for reputable sites to get noticed, especially when the search company offers a competing service, Lee said.

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Webdurance is the first North East fundraising webathon and takes place this July 15th and 16th in Newcastle.

The free event, Webdurance, will see the regions best tech’ experts compete to create new websites for local charities in just 24 hours.

Chosen charities span the region and represent a wide range of worthy causes within North East communities including child safety, disability support services, mental health issues to support and training opportunities for those living in disadvantaged communities.

The struggling charities benefitting from the best talent in the region being readily volunteered at Webdurance have been announced.

They are: Azure Charitable Enterprises, Tynemouth Blind Welfare Society, Key Enterprises, The Children’s Foundation Whoops Child Safety Project, Children North East and Meadow Well Connected.

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Attention – attract your potential customer’s attention; Interest – raise customers’ interest by focusing on advantages and benefits; Desire – convince customers that they want and desire your product and that it will satisfy their needs; Action – lead customers toward your targeted action: ordering, purchasing, or subscribing.

This formula may be used to convert your virtual website visitors into real local and loyal buyers so its well worth spending some time to make sure your website meets these requirments.

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The code has three simple actions: `Zip it, lock it, Flag it’.

It’s easy to remember when talking to children about online safety and it’s designed to help keep them safe on the internet.

ZIP IT 
Keep your personal stuff private and think about what you say and do online.

BLOCK IT
Block people who send you nasty messages and don’t open unknown links and attachments.

FLAG IT
Flag up with someone you trust if anything upsets you or if someone asks to meet you offline

Talk to your kids about the Click Clever, Click Safe code — to help them to enjoy the internet safely.

For advice on internet safety go to www.direct.gov.uk/clickcleverclicksafe

Mr Jobs referred to Microsoft, its former enemy as having done a “cool” job with Bing.

“That Bing is now a search option is unbelievable,” said analyst Michael Gartenburg of the Altimeter Group. “Microsoft is clearly the new Switzerland and Google is the new enemy.”

While chunks of the iPhone release might have sounded like a deja vu, the same could also be said for the unveiling of the new operating system which Mr Jobs personally launched back in April. The big news there was a name change to iOS4 because it will cover the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

The software update will bring multi-tasking to the iPhone, allowing users to run multiple applications and programs simultaneously, and will also let users organise their mass of applications into folders.

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