The Encyclopedia Britannica 2009 (seo tools)

August 28th, 2009 admin Posted in internet |

By sumit

The Encyclopedia Britannica 2009 (established in 1768), both in its Ultimate (now also called “Student and Home”) and Deluxe versions, builds on the success of its completely revamped previous editions in 2006-8. The rate of innovation in the last three versions was impressive and welcome. It continues apace in this rendition with Britannica Biographies (Great Minds and Leaders), Classical Music (500 audio files arranged by composer), and a great Workspace for Project Management (a kind of friendly digital den). Generous 6-12 months of free access to the myriad riches of the Britannica Online complete the package.

The Britannica comes bundled with an atlas (close to 1800 maps linked to articles and 287 World Data Profiles of individual countries and territories); the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus, augmented by a Spanish-English translation dictionary; classic articles from previous editions; eleven yearbooks; an Interactive Timeline with 4000+ indexed timeline entries; a Research Organizer; and a Knowledge Navigator (called The Brain or BrainStormer). All told, it offers a directory of more than 166,000 reviewed and vetted links to online content.

In its new form, the Britannica is as user-friendly as the Encarta. With a new A to Z Quick Search feature, monthly updates and the aforementioned 6-12 months of free access to its impressive powerhouse online Web site, it is bound to give the former tough competition.

The Britannica’s newest interface is even more intuitive and uncluttered than previously and is great fun to use. It offers morsels of knowledge, some of it date-specific, appetizingly presented through a ticker tape of visuals that leisurely scrolls across the bottom of the screen plus highly edifying interactive tours of articles and attendant media.

When you enter even the first few letters of a term in the search box, it offers various options and is persistent: no need to click on the toolbar’s “search” button every time you want to find something in this vast storehouse of knowledge. Moreover, the user can save search results onto handy “Virtual Notecards”. Whole articles can be copied onto the seemingly inexhaustible Workspace.

The new Britannica’s display is tab-based, avoiding the erstwhile confusing proliferation of windows with every move. Most importantly, articles appear in full, not in sections. This major improvement facilitates the finding of relevant keywords in and the printing of entire texts. These are only a few of the numerous alterations and enhancements.

Perhaps the most refreshing change is the Britannica’s Update Center. Dozens of monthly updates and new, timely articles are made available online (subject to free registration). A special button alerts the user when an entry in the base product has been updated.

Regrettably, unlike in the Encarta, the updates cannot be downloaded to the user’s computer or otherwise incorporated into the vast encyclopedia. Moreover, the product does not alert its user to the existence of completely new articles, only to updated ones. It takes a manual scan of the monthly lists to reveal newly added content.

Speaking of updates, one must not forget to dwell on the Britannica’s unequalled yearbooks. Each annual volume contains the year in events, scientific developments, and everything you wanted to know about the latest in any and every conceivable field of human endeavor or nature. About 10,500 articles culled from the last 11 editions buttress and update the Encyclopedia’s anyhow impressive offerings.

The Britannica provides considerably more text than any other extant encyclopedia, print or digital. But it has noticeably enhanced its non-textual content over the years (the 1994-7 editions had nothing or very little but words, words, and more words): it now boasts in excess of 22-30,000 images and illustrations (depending on the version) and 900 video and audio clips. This is not to mention the Britannica Classics: articles from Britannica’s most famous contributors-from Sigmund Freud to Harry Houdini, Marie Curie to Orville Wright.

The Britannica fully supports serious research. It is a sober assemblage of first-rate essays, up to date bibliographies, and relevant multimedia. It is a desktop university library: thorough, well-researched, comprehensive, trustworthy.

The Britannica’s 84-103,000 articles (depending on the version) are long and thorough, supported by impressive bibliographies, and written by the best scholars in their respective fields. The company’s Editorial Board of Advisors reads like the who’s who of the global intellectual and scientific community.

The Britannica is an embarrassment of riches. Users often find the wealth and breadth of information daunting and data mining is fast becoming an art form. This is why the Britannica incorporated the BrainStormer to cope with this predicament. But an informal poll I conducted online shows that few know how to deploy it effectively.

The Britannica also sports Student and Elementary versions of its venerable flagship product, replete with a Homework Helpdesk and interactive tutorials, but it is far better geared to tackle the information needs of adults and, even more so, professionals. It provides unequalled coverage of its topics. Ironically, this is precisely why the market positioning of the Britannica’s Elementary and Student Encyclopedias is problematic: with Wikipedia and even the Encarta around, the Britannica’s brand is distinctly adult and scholarly.

Still, the 2009 editions of both the Student and Elementary encyclopedias improve on the past in terms of both coverage and facilities: the Homework Helpdesk is a collection of useful homework resources including a video subject browse, online learning games and activities, online subject spotlights, and how-to documents on topics such as writing a book review. There are also Learning Games and Activities: hundreds of fun and interactive games and activities to help students with subjects like Math, Science, and Social Studies.

The current edition is fully integrated with the Internet. Apart from the updates, it offers additional and timely content and revisions on a dedicated Web site. The digital product includes a staggering number of links (165,808!) to third party content and articles on the Web. The GeoAnalyzer, which compares national statistical data and generates charts and graphs, is now Web-based and greatly enhanced.

The Britannica would do well to offer a browser add-on search bar and to integrate with desktop search tools from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and others. Currently it offers search results through Google but this requires the user to install add-ons or plug-ins and to go through a convoluted rite of passage. A seamless experience is in the cards. Users must and will be able to ferret content from all over - their desktop, their encyclopedias, and the Web - using a single, intuitive interface.

Some minor gripes:

The atlas, dictionary, and thesaurus incorporated in the Britannica are still surprisingly outdated. Why not use a more current - and dynamically updated - offering? What about dictionaries for specialty terms (medical or computer glossaries, for instance)?

Despite considerable improvement over the previous edition, the Britannica still consumes (not to say hogs) computer resource far in excess of the official specifications. This makes it less suitable for installation on older PCs and on many laptops. If you own a machine with anything earlier than Pentium 3 and less than 4 Gb of really free space - forget it!

The Britannica uses a new graphic and text renderer. On some systems, the user needs to modify his or her desktop settings to get rid of jagged fonts and blurry photos. The software also seriously conflicts with security applications (especially anti-virus and firewall products). This edition, though, is finally compatible with the latest QuickTime.

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How to make a living doing what you love life

By sumit

Work is an essential part of life. For starters we are judged by our careers. Go to a party sometime and the first thing people ask after an introduction is ’so what do you do?’ If your job is prestigious they admire you, if it’s lucrative they resent you and if it’s satisfying they respect you a lot. We sometimes hate to get out of bed on a Monday morning but deep down inside we are grateful. Work pays the bills, keeps us busy and gives us a sense of security. Sometimes a false sense of security

Our ancestors worked hard. Civilisations have been built by bare hardworking hands. Work shouldn’t define us and yet it tells a part of the story. It’s what grown-ups do; what respectable individuals should aspire to. However, nowadays more and more people crave to make a living doing what they genuinely enjoy. It’s not the preserve of singers and dancers only. It’s a birthright. As loving relationships satisfy our desire to be loved, fulfilling work meets the need we all have- the need to express ourselves; to make a difference.

If you’re fed up with meaningless routine, you have the right to forge a different path. For instance, ‘movie stars’ did not really exist until after 1910. Centuries ago actors were one of the most poorly paid professionals on the face of the earth. An actor was the equivalent of a clown, not the sort of person you could take very seriously. A lot of these talented people lived in debt, worked without pay and endured ridicule. Gradually a handful of pioneers began to change our perception of the industry. Although many actors still struggle today, a good number are extremely wealthy. Some have even gone on to become political leaders and entrepreneurs. They influence what we wear, what we eat, how we live.

I’m going to share with you 5 steps to making a living doing work that doesn’t seem like work for the most part. You can take the word ’starving’ out of starving artist, you can turn any hobby, habit, skill or craft into a decent livelihood. Bored with your day job? You can change that. Perhaps you’ve got children and want flexible work that allows you to be the best parent you can be? Create it. Want some extra income on the side? Go for it. There’s no better motivator than satisfying work. With a bit of courage and these 5 steps, you can have the best of both worlds.

1. Find what makes you tick - On a sheet of paper list your talents, hobbies, unique life experiences, educational background and practical skills. What does your dream career look like? What sort of work would make you truly happy? How can your life experiences, education and practical skills contribute toward creating your desired lifestyle? Thoughtfully write down the answers to these questions. If you require further insight, get some feedback from family and friends as well. Work with what you’ve got. For instance, if you love gardening, consider setting up shop as a florist. If you are a lover of the outdoors and don’t like the idea of being stuck behind the counter, you can do without a shop altogether. How? Invest in land, seeds, gardening equipment and a decent website. Do some marketing- perhaps positioning yourself as an organic farmer who supplies flora straight from the source. When you receive orders via cyberspace, ship the plants off. With proper planning and execution, anything can be achieved.

2. Get refined - When crude oil is drilled out of the earth’s crust is it supplied to gas stations right away? No one shells out their hard earned money to amateurs. Work on your skills so that you can compete with other professionals. Better still, aim to offer the best value to your customers. For instance, if you dream of making a living as a fashion designer, learn from the best in the industry. At the very least, go on a refresher course or practice devotedly.

3. Find a need - Sometimes people assume that there is an instant market for the products and services they offer. Okay, so you really enjoy folk singing or writing poetry. Is there a sizeable demand or at least growing appetite for your craft? If you have faith in your work, press on by all means. The world needs pioneers alright but be prepared to make a lot of sacrifices and accept the fact that change may come in another era. Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings are worth a fortune today but he died a pauper in the year 1890. On the contrary, Picasso lived a life of affluence- perhaps walking a path paved by prior artists. If you plan to pay your mortgage in the mean time, be willing to think outside the box. For instance, greeting card companies are always on the look out for verse; consider supplying lyrics to bespoke card makers whilst you write your literary masterpiece. Are you an aspiring musician? TV and movie studios are always in need of royalty free intro music. Consider catering to such hungry markets whilst you put finishing touches to your debut album.

4. Sell to that need - Take time to study trends and assess potential markets. You don’t want to invest precious time and money crafting a product, only to find out that demand isn’t steady. You want the need (for whatever you plan to sell) to be as regular as your utility bill. One can’t go wrong in the food industry for instance because whatever happens people have to eat. In order to serve their customers, cooks have to buy crockery from the manufacturing industry. People who eat also have to defecate at some point and that’s where toilet roll production comes in. Think strategically. Seek to meet a genuinely pressing need or at least have the ability to convince your target audience that they can’t do without your offering. Again, determine the need and sell to it.

5. Stay focused - Always remember that your primary objective was to ‘make a living doing what you love.’ Don’t get so caught up in red tape or profit making that you forget to enjoy yourself. Of course running a business of your own will never be all fun and games but if you are in the right line of work, you should feel passion and fulfilment despite the hassle. Having said that, life is a journey. People grow; circumstances and needs change. Time may come when you have to move on to yet another challenge. We live in the age of diversity and opportunity, don’t be afraid of trying something new but strive for excellence in all that you do.

So that’s it- 5 steps to making your dreams come true. But whilst self help articles make for excellent reading, it’s extremely vital that you ‘take action right away.’ Good things no longer come to those who wait around.

Two Great Steps towards Achieving Success in Affiliate Marketing

By olivejoy

If you think setting up websites and increasing sales are kind of difficult then you have to think twice. An affiliate marketing career is more difficult than those fore-mentioned. Many stories and myths have suggested that earning via online transactions is just 10-minute worth of work. This is isn’t exactly all true. But it is agreeable that affiliate marketing can be a profitable and highly successful field for the individual with the right skills and techniques. Always invest in wise strategies and techniques which will point you towards a gargantuan affiliate marketing success. The first and the most significant step in affiliate marketing is setting up effective and convincing sales pages, containing only necessary and informative contents , which would be reasons enough to attract buyers. The second is to reinforce that page with high quality and noteworthy content that not only attract buyers but would also make them have good reasons to recommend you via the most potent marketing channel there is, word-of-mouth. Let us expound these steps further.

A remarkable sales page is designed and planned not just to capture the readers attention, but it should also convince the why they have to listen to you and in the end talk about you and your company. Listing out isn’t enough. For you to truly succeed in a sales page, you have to combine information with intent and position. You must give your readers a good enough reason to buy what you are offering for sale and they might listen to your reasoning. and buy from you. If you only give them pure information then they might just hesitate on buying and instead ask your product’s significance to them.

Having the sales page is just also enough. Promotion and optimization through whatever channels, major channels if possible, are needed in order for consumers to find you. Search engines serve as the most important marketing medium on the internet and they are responsible for hundreds to millions of page views. Don’t add to the statistic of those who are lost in the myriad of pages of Google. You should invest and put up your own site and bring it to the top of the research results, which will produce maximum exposures and success in your sales.

A very effective way to bring forth marketing buzz, SEO content, and page views is through composing supporting write-ups or articles for your website. The online availability of highly qualified writers/authors can do the work for you. You can hire them to shape your marketing enterprise to succeed. Remember, quality ranks number one as the most relevant factor for an affiliate marketing to attain success. So, be sure to hire the most highly qualified of these authors to do the image building for your business. All you need to do is spend enough of your valuable time to search for people that can provide the best services there is.

The world of affiliate marketing is like a vast ocean, with many people of different standings. Always make sure to stay at the top of the heap, and never lose your focus, success in the world of affiliate marketing.

Olive Joy Villegas is a webmaster by profession who earned a bachelors degree in Information Technology in 2005. She is currently working as online representative at Dlinkers SEO Services, an SEO company based in the Philippines.

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