If you’ve ever thought about buying paid advertising in Google or Yahoo, but thought the costs were too high, you might be right. Even though you set a budget for PPC ads (Pay-Per-Click), are you really getting your money’s worth?

Paid or sponsored listings, those ads at the top and right side of search results, may not be getting as many clicks as you’d expect. Research indicates that approximately 60 to 80% of people click on organic listings over paid ones, probably because they know sponsored ads will be sales campaigns. If the searcher is just looking for information, they don’t want to be sold to! Additionally, if you’re looking for people with a higher level of education to click on your organic listing, don’t bother with PPC.

Search engines also record your ranking history, so your organic listing will stand the test of time and you’ll continue to rank higher, especially as you implement more and more SEO and ranking techniques that you learn from this blog. If you’re still curious about how Google’s PPC campaigns work visit https://adwords.google.com. You might test a few ads with a limited budget and see what results you get.

Popularity: 40% [?]

Okay, so the Wayback Machine is not nearly as cool as Christopher Lloyd’s DeLorean… but I must admit, having an archive that “takes you back” to prior versions of your website can come in handy.

The Wayback Machine is also known as the “internet archive” and you can find it at http://www.archive.org/index.php. It’s great for those days when you’re feeling sentimental and want to “go back in time” to see how far your website has evolved.

I’ll give you a peek at the “awfulness” that was Wordfeeder.com circa 2004:

http://web.archive.org/web/20040208163833/http://www.wordfeeder.com/

YIKES! Look at that wretched template that I borrowed from Trellix… and how about that godawful pun at the bottom of the page?

(Go ahead and try it; type your URL right into the box at the top right of the page… and see how far you’ve come in the world of business website design!)

One thing I must emphasize: the Wayback Machine has a much greater value than looking at old versions of your website and laughing your head off. I’ve found it to be a lifesaver when you accidentally delete a page from your server and want to “recover” old copy and/or images that have been lost.

Even if the copy isn’t an exact duplicate of what you needed, having an earlier version is still MUCH better than having to start from scratch.

The Wayback Machine is also useful for when you want to learn more about people who you might be working with in the future.

Bookmark The Wayback Machine so you’ll have it when you need it.

Popularity: 33% [?]

For the past week or so, I’ve had numerous Firefox crashes that I’ve had a sneaking suspicion are related to the newly downloaded version of AVG Anti-Virus (Version 8).

Today I researched the matter and came upon this article which I found quite helpful. Basically, you fix it by doing the following:

1. Launch AVG Anti-Virus Free.

2. Go to the top menu and click TOOLS.

3. Click on Advanced Settings and then look at the list to your left.

4. Click the fifth choice down - LinkScanner.

5. With LinkScanner clicked, look to the right and you’ll see two boxes that are checked off. Uncheck the boxes. With these extensions disabled, you’ll no longer enjoy the privilege of having links pre-scanned for viruses before you click them… but unless you’re exploring uncharted territory where you’d want your virus alert way up high, I’d say it’s worth it.

Good luck - here’s to hoping this solves the crashing problem with Firefox!

- Dina at Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing.

Popularity: 24% [?]