TV presenters 19th July 2013 3:05 PM
Lorraine Kelly, sexiest voice in the world and still wearing well 
PostsFriday Marketing Humour 19th July 2013 3:02 PM Not showing up on Google Maps 19th July 2013 2:52 PM “I cannot understand why they are making it so complicated. In stead of increasing security and blah blah, they are trying to put off their users.” There is or should I say various theories floating round, not that I believe them, obviously (just in case the Google God is watching  ).Google has become so big and with a monopolized market share, that this has bred arrogance, as it has transitioned from a cutting edge tool, designed to resolve a problem, traditional search, to becoming a very wealthy platform with an army of developers, all itching to make a name for themselves. Unfortunately where as new products or major changes happened infrequently in the early days, we have now moved into an environment that feels like we all live in a Google test lab  If you switch off the internet for a month, then come back, you will be more likely lost as you try and navigate unfamiliar control panels, deal with search result changes, diagnose recent updates and see if they have impacted you, or find out if you broke the rules 4 years ago. Things like Google Maps Listings/Places were simple and straightforward. Easy to set up and very useful. I think Google+ is a great platform, and has changed drastically over the last 12 months, but I feel like I'm caught up in an arms race against facebook and being made to choose sides, rather then utilise tools that work best for me. Maybe its the modern way, but change seems to be instant with little thought process. Things are bolted on and changed as we go along, then scrapped completely when a new developer comes along with a new idea. Googles not alone, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft are just as bad. Don't worry about testing things, thats what we are for! Now with all the moaning, shell shocked web admins, disgruntled end users, wouldn't it be great if a Search Engine came along and answered all of your concerns.... Instead Yahoo's market share and profit slowly gets eroded away... Whoops, turned into a rant, but I feel cleansed... Shall now go and slaughter a goat to appease the Google God and beg forgiveness.....  Is this the end of the road for vBSEO? 19th July 2013 1:13 PM Well this has been a bizarre story. vBSEO is an addon Forum owners like me plug into their vBulletin forums, and it gives things like user friendly URL's, and some SEO enhancements. It's the sort of thing you setup, switch on and forget, so was surprised to get an email from the co-founder. “vBSEO is Suspending Operations I'm Ilia Muriente, co-founder of Crawlability Inc. We created vBSEO in 2005 to enhance the SEO positioning of your forums Unfortunately, I was forced out of my role as Vice President in 2009 and have not been permitted to be involved with the company at any level since. The company has been fully under the control of my co-founder, Juan Muriente. Since my departure, the company has been in sharp decline. Recently, our customers have been abandoned without any support.... blah blah, blah” She finishes off with a video, slagging off the company, and then asking for everyones support to help her fight a legal battle to regain control. It sounded like a marital dispute off a soap opera, but turns out they are bruv and sis vBSEO was a well respected product, and it's owners Crawlability perceived to be a big player in the forum world. There are threads everywhere, but they all point to this one if anyones actually interested in the saga: Dear vBulletin Forum Community - vBSEO is Suspending Operations We'll carry on using it, as it works, although I guess we'll have to keep an eye on security if it's no longer being supported, but what a bizarre way to run a company into the ground??  Maybe they had all their eggs in one basket, and when vBulletin brought out its next generation, version 4 (which I think is terrible) they incorporated a lot of vBSEOs features. But a bit of forward thinking could have giot them developing other features, or making it available for different forum versions. The morale of the story, don't employ family!!! Anwser it. 19th July 2013 10:35 AM Do you see some improvement 18th July 2013 5:00 PM “what do you think guys, does that mean the recession is almost over?” The technical definition of a recession may indicate it's over, but the reality is the UK and half the world are in such a poor state, failed businesses, job cuts, lower salaries, govt's that are broke and slashing budgets, austerity measures across the board, that few people will feel like the recessions over for another 3 or 4 years me thinks Stay at home mums and dads running there business 18th July 2013 3:34 PM “It's mandatory, I think, to have a notice up on the front of the house giving your registered company address anyway (MLF legal eagles please confirm) but that can be a much smaller, more discreet sign.” I didn't know that! “Second suggestion is - remove your house from street view in GoogleMaps. Google give instructions on how you can do this.” Good tip Or for a lot less than an office, if you have a business centre near you, see if they offer a virtual business address and mail catch, and make it your registered address. I know our place does, plus most like hours have meeting rooms you can hire by the hour. If you need a meeting and want to impress, simply have your clients directed into the Not showing up on Google Maps 18th July 2013 3:21 PM “Google are apparently sending me a postcard with a PIN number but I still haven't received it after a week. Is that normal or should I request another one.” Until you have activated your pin, you won't display on maps, and it can still take a couple of weeks even after you have activated it. Ref getting a pin, afraid it's a case of being patient. I've just had to redo our Places aka Google+ listing and still waiting for a pin. According to my control panel, my confirmation letter was sent 21-Jun-2013... still waiting... was going to wait for the 30 day anniversary then request another The whole Google Places/maps/Google Plus Listing has been in shambles now for over 12 months. We lost our perfectly working Places listing, including reviews, then had a duplicate Google+ listing, which then told us it couldnt be verified. Actually managed to get someone from the Google Places team to help, and our places listing re-appeared and she said don't worry about the google+ one. 2 months later, our Google places one disappears again, and our google+ one gets verified, so we have a listing, but nothing to show on maps. The old places admin panel still works, but should have cut over to a new google+ one ages ago, as none of the options make sense any more. So personally I think Google is in a complete mess with the whole places/maps issue, and there seems to be countless threads on various forums of people having problems Do you have a problem with MLF ot it is my browser? 17th July 2013 5:16 PM hmmm very bizzare. The url http://t.afftrackr.com/ simply goes to a 404 and looks like some kind of advertising/affiliate link? Not aware of anything on the forum, but will need to search through some code. |
