"Will using Google Analytics have a negative effect on my ranking? "

If you've ever wondered if using Google Analytics on your website will hurt you in the rankings department, give a listen in as Matt Cutts explains.

Do you use Google Analytics? Why or why not? Please leave your comments below:

"The Google Gadget that Makes Selling Online a "Snap""

If one or all of the following applies to you, please raise your hand – “I want to sell something on the Net”,“I have no technical or coding skills”, or “I don't want to be bothered with a merchant account”.

Do I have your attention now? How about if I told you that there's a quick and easy solution to your online selling problems? Well, thanks to Google, your prayers have been answered. Google Labs is a testing ground for new services thought up by the geniuses who work there. One of their latest concoctions is called "Google Checkout Store Gadget". Its basic function allows you to copy and paste some code onto any webpage or blog, and become an instant merchant selling your own products.

Let's take a look at the "man behind the curtain" to see how it all works. The very first step is to open a Google Checkout Merchant account, which is easy to do by going to http://checkout.google.com/signup Fill out all of the required information, and you'll also need to input a bank account where your hard earned sales funds will be sent to. Google Checkout will process all incoming orders for you. The orders will appear under the "orders tab". On another note, make sure to uncheck the box that says, "my company will only post digitally signed carts", then hit the save button. Also, make sure to write down your "Merchant ID" number as you'll need it later on.

The next step is done using a Google Docs Spreadsheet which will track all your inventory. Google provides a template that can be copied which can be found here, http://tinyurl.com/yhebl4y . Take out the "dummy" product information and replace it with your own. There are separate columns for each item, even for shipping information. Each product can have its own separate shipping charge if need be. Keep in mind when filling it out that it can be viewed by the general public, so don't include any private information in it.

After you've entered all your items, hit "share" in the upper right hand corner, and publish as a "web page".Also, check the box that says "Automatically Re-Publish when changes are made."

Google makes it easy to set up your online store by using http://storegadget.googlelabs.com/ . It takes you through the process step-by-step, and when finished you click on "start publishing" and select where you'd like to embed the code, for example your website, Blogger, etc. Copy the code and paste it where you want the gadget to appear. There are no coding skills necessary, and anyone can do it. Really, it's that simple. If adding to a Blogger Blog, go under "edit layout",add a "gadget", then click "add your own", and paste the gadget code. Now you're selling items from your Blog that quickly.

So what's all of this going to cost? There is a small transaction fee charged by Google Checkout for any monthly sales as follows:

Under 3,000.00 2.9% plus .30 per transaction
3,000.00 to 9,999.99 2.5% plus .30 per transaction
10,000 to 99,999.99 2.2% plus .30 per transaction

If you've been putting off getting up a store front because you thought it was too difficult or technically complicated, Google really has simplified the process.With "store gadgets" even a child can sell online.

For more information see these resources:

http://googlecheckout.blogpsot.com/ Checkout Blog
http://tinyurl.com/ybd8ksk Google Checkout Store Gadget Forum
http://tinyurl.com/n2c2dy Google Docs blog

"Improve Your Website with Google's Webmaster Central Tools"

As a website owner, one of your top priorities is going to be getting your site indexed and  ranked by Google. People perform over 235 million searches a day with Google, so the potential to receive significant traffic from this search engine should be enough for you to invest the time to make sure it's done right.

Google wants to fill its index with quality, error free websites that are beneficial and targeted to their searchers. Enter Google's Webmaster Central Tools http://google.com/webmasters . If you've never heard of it, it's Google's way of helping you with your website's indexing. Not too long ago, it went through a redesign and upgrade process which made it more useful and easier to use than ever.

First thing you'll need to sign in with is a Google account.  Google requires an account to be able to use all of their free services, including Blogger and Analytics, so if you don't have one, now's the time to register.

If you have multiple websites to list, that's no problem. Up to 500 sites can be added all under one roof. You will need to perform what Google calls "site verification" for each site submitted. This proves to Google that you are the owner of the site before they release detailed information to you.  At one time it was a lengthy process of cutting and pasting code into the head section of your index page or uploading a separate HTML file. Now they've streamlined the process and it's all done with one click of an email.

If you use Blogger.com, "Webmaster Tools" can be enabled from within the Blogger dashboard under tools/resources. Once your sites have been submitted, you'll have access to a whole suite of useful tools. The website is broken up into three main sections.

1) Site Configuration (Information about your site)

2) Your Site on the Web (Google data re: your site)

3) Diagnostics (Any problems Google had while indexing your site)

If your website has never received a decent ranking with Google, these numerous reports will help you in tracking down the problem. It's truly an "eye opener" to see your site through the eyes of a search engine.

On the "Crawl Errors Page", any errors Google encountered while crawling your site are revealed. The url's not listed, and the types of problems such as restricted by robots txt, url's that timed out, and unreachable url's will be uncovered. If numerous pages of your site are not indexed, Sitemaps can  also be submitted to help Google find and crawl all of the pages of your site.

If your website is not showing up in Google's index, or you think it's being penalized for some reason, you can contact Google from within the "tools interface" with a "reconsideration" request. This will ask Google to take another look at your site. Before submitting, make sure you've cleaned up any errors, and that you're not in violation of any of Google's webmaster guidelines.

Here's a small sample of some other tasks that can be performed.

- Keyword Research: The keywords page lists the most
important words Google found when indexing your site.
So you know what keyword/phrases your site is ranking for.

- Who's linking to your website.

- Page rank for individual pages can be reviewed.

- Change of address feature, which is useful when
moving domains to let Google know.

- Data can be downloaded in spreadsheet format
in order to be analyzed and tracked.

- Any RSS feeds can also be submitted as sitemaps.

- Parameter Handling- Allows you to tell Google which
url's you want them to ignore.

- Emails from Google's Webmaster Tools can be
forwarded to any email address you specify.

Contrary to popular belief, Google wants you to succeed online which is why they give you the tools needed to fix any problems, and make your site a search engine's indexing dream. That's not just good business for Google,it's good for your website too.

"TV for All Contest"

TV advertising can be expensive for small businesses. So Google TV Ads and Spotmixer have joined forces to bring you the "TV for All Contest". Create and submit your own TV commercial for a shot at winning 25,0000 of free national TV advertising on select cable channels.

A panel of celebrity judges will pick the finalists around mid October. Then the YouTube Community will chose the three winners. If you need help in creating your own TV ad it's easy with Spotmixer and can be done from the contest page above. Entries must be received by Oct 5, 2009 For more information go to-

http://www.youtube.com/tvforallcontest

"How to Get Google to Index a New Page"

"How much time is Google taking to index a new webpage, and how can you accelerate the process besides using Google Webmaster Tools?"

Google Launches New YouTube Channel for Webmasters

YouTube - GoogleWebmasterHelp's Channel: Just launched Google's new YouTube Webmaster Channel is loaded with resources for webmasters. The information presented will help you with your website crawling and indexing questions, increasing your traffic and enhancing your site. Subscribe, or for more information go to http://www.google.com/webmasters/"

"Google's "Display Ad Builder" Makes You Look Marvelous"

If you use Google Adwords for your pay-per-click advertising, you'll want to sit up and pay attention. Google has introduced a new tool for their users called "Display Ad Builder". It's purpose is to help you make professional graphical ads with no design experience.

If you're already an Adwords user, you can access the "AdBuilder" from within the Adwords interface. Inside you'll find over 40 professionally designed templates to choose from. You can customize the colors, fonts, images and text of each template to your exact specifications. You can also upload your own images, logos and videos to use in the creative process and add your own text. If you're all thumbs when it comes to design, this is really going to be of great assistance to you.

The ads created with Google's Ad Builder will be run on Google's content network which has over one million website partners to date. Only those who choose to run image or video ads can display these graphical ads on their site, so if you're an Adsense user and haven't opted in for image and video ads, and would like to run these ads on your site, make sure that you do.

Google's new tool is available to all advertisers in the U.S. and Canada. For more information see:

http://www.google.com/adwords/displayadbuilder/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bu1oaWkXSHM

If you've been holding back on running image based ads in your pay-per-click advertising, here's your opportunity to look like a pro, no design school needed.