I received this email from Google offering a $100 credit to come back to AdWords. I decided to investigate. It was legitimate offer but there’s a catch. I have to spend $25 to redeem the $100. Sounds pretty good doesn’t it.
My past experience with spending a small amount of money, plus Google’s introductory offer of $75, is that I achieved no sales result. Google ended up with my money and because it is their own service, it ended up costing them nothing (I don’t advertise on third party sites so they don’t pay any third party commission). A win to Google and a loss for me.
If you’ve never tried advertising on Google and have the hours you need to invest in learning how Google Adwords works, then trying Google Adwords isn’t a bad thing. For me however I prefer to put my advertising dollar where I know I’ll get a return.
The JustLocal advertising service I run offers a money back guarantee. That beats Google’s offer.
I’d have no problems advertising on Google if it gave me a return, but so far there’s been no return and that experience has put me off.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au
Helping local businesses with low cost local advertising.
Guaranteed to work or your money back.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Get $100* credit and expert help choosing keywords when you come back to AdWords
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Click Frenzy servers appear to not be handling the load.
Not a good start. In Internet Explorer 10 you receive the message "This page can't be displayed".
Hopefully things will start working. Good on them for getting the retailers going and putting some spark back into the market.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you require help with your computer.
No problem too small.
UPDATE: Just after 8:30pm and I managed to display the following. At least in the virtual crush people aren't getting hurt, frustrated, but not hurt.
Here is a list of sites which I'll keep checking and adding sites in case it helps others.
www.oo.com.au
www.supercycle.com.au
www.justfitness.com.au
www.biasboating.com.au (Hard to identify specials.)
www.completehealth.com.au (Scrolling message for code "FRENZY" for 15% off.)
http://dicksmith.com.au/clickfrenzy/t/
www.addictedtoaudio.com.au/Click-Frenzy
www.annexproducts.com/pages/clickfrenzy
www.wireless1.com.au
UPDATE: 11:30pm. The Click Frenzy site now appears to have stabilised. The normal nightly peak for internet use is around 11pm and since we are now after that time we should be able to expect the Click Frenzy servers (or cloud services) should handle the load. Although tomorrow as they say, is another day.
Government spends many millions advertising on Google and then complains when Google only pays $74,176 in tax.
I read articles over time where Australian politicians complain that large multinational companies use tax minimisation strategies to reduce their tax liability in Australia.
For example it is estimated that Google earns around $2 billion in revenue a year from Australian advertisers and yet only paid a little over $74,000 in tax.
Google Australia declared a loss of $3.9 million last year, and paid just $74,176 in Australian tax... Read More
The politicians have a very simple solution. Redirect the millions of dollars (and if that figure of $2 billion a year is correct we could be talking about hundreds of millions spent by government and government agencies) to local businesses.
When Google wants to promote itself you can see their advertisements around everywhere and they’re not generally using the Google service. Letter drops I receive regularly in the post. Signs at Southern Cross station. A $300 million dollar deal (reportedly) with Mozilla (Firefox) to send 15-25% of internet search traffic Google’s way. If Google are using other advertising media to get their message across isn’t that perhaps what the government should also be using.
The best thing with not using Google is the government avoids click fraud which is estimated to a be a multi-billion dollar problem for Google. Click fraud is when people or organisations have a site and generate income from either their own activity of the activity of others such as clicking on ads on their site and not clicks by potential customers. I’ve been told of ordinary people doing this type of activity so you can only imagine how much activity is occurring due to organised crime.
If the government isn’t happy the solution is easy. Don’t advertise on Google. Google will quickly come around and pay a fair and reasonable amount of tax if that happens, and if they don’t, the government is putting their advertising dollar in to assist the local economy by supporting local advertising services. To me that’s a win either way.
My own tests of paid Google advertising is it didn’t yield any result. Those I’ve spoken to, with the exception one person, have had a similar experience. That person when I last heard, had suspended their Google advertising.
- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for help with your computer problem.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.
Monday, November 19, 2012
New site for The Preferred Australian English spellcheck dictionary
Recently Google changed their algorithm which significantly impacted the position of the Australian English spellcheck dictionary in the Google search results. From number one position to nowhere to be found. In essence traffic to the site dropped 80% overnight. This should be a warning for anyone who puts a lot of time and money into obtaining a position in Google. All your time, energy and money could be wasted overnight by decisions Google makes in terms of generating traffic to your site.
The preferred Australian English spellcheck dictionary is the only free service available to Australians to assist them with using the preferred Australian English spelling. Over a thousand people a week used the site and Google simply changed their algorithm making the page almost impossible to find. The original page will remain (www.justlocal.com.au/clients/oooau), but in addition, you can now find the main page at www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au.
The site www.Australian-Dictionary.com.au will become the main site for my dictionary work.
You can still find the main page if searching (“Australian Dictionary”) using Bing, where the site is positioned in first position and in Yahoo where the site is positioned second. My apologies for any inconvenience. What Google does is outside of my control.
I hope you find my work to be of assistance.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
MyAnswers: Free eBooks for Android, PC and Apple iOS users.
Click here to obtain the solution.
Click here for related solutions.
Kelvin Eldridge
MyAnswers
(An Online Connections service.)
Friday, November 16, 2012
Skype free unlimited worldwide telephone calls for a month.
Just read on the internet about Skype’s offer of free unlimited calls for a month. This offer can only be redeemed on the 15th of November 2012. It is now after 9am on the 16th in Melbourne Australia so if this offer is valid and applies to Australia, then you need to act quickly.
Free worldwide calls for a month... Read More
You need to subscribe to the service for one month. I’ve found these offers often encourage people to sign up and then they forget so they keep getting charged. Make sure you record the date for the end of the trial or set a reminder in your calendar a day or two before the trial is up if you wish to cancel.
In my case I have $13.02 credit. Don’t know what will happen to this credit. Hopefully I won’t lose it, but since I want to test if this offer is legitimate and works in Australia I’ll take a hit for the team. The amount normally charged for the plan for a month is $13.49.
Enjoy,
- Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for help with your computer problem.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.
UPDATE: Confirmation of free trial by Skype. This appears to be working. Now for a test call. Local call went through with no charge. Successful test. Note. The call quality was good but there was a delay at the start such that the person didn’t hear my introduction when I called them. I heard their response.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Alert: Telstra - You have received a new message
I received three emails this morning to different email addresses all pretending to be from Telstra with the message:
"You have received a picture message from mobile number +61
To save this picture, please save attached file."
There is an attached zip file most likely some form of malware.
You should delete these emails.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you require help with your computer.
No problem too small.
Monday, November 12, 2012
Alert: Richard Person Doggonit Obedience blog spamming
Another blog spammer today. Doggonit Obedience blog spammed my blog with a comment today. I expect overseas countries to blog spam but it is disappointing when Australian businesses resort to posting links in other sites just to promote their own.
Richard Person please check who you are using for internet marketing and drop them. They are blog spamming others and that is damaging your reputation. I wouldn’t use a business that has no respect for others and I suggest others not to use such businesses.
There are more ethical ways to market your business. Please use them.
Kelvin Eldridge
Dog Training Melbourne - Herding Dog Training with dog trainer Charlie Brincat
With the beautiful weather over the weekend I couldn’t help feeling an unusual and fun activity many dogs and their owners may have missed on the weekend, was the opportunity to participate in herding dog training. Herding dog trainer Charlie Brincat runs classes on weekends subject to weather and you couldn’t have had nicer weather than this weekend.
Check out Herding Dog Training videos produced by Charlie on his site www.herdingdogtraining.com.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Windows 7 to Windows 8 Pro upgrade is not a straight forward upgrade for all Windows 7 editions.
The problem I find with downloading programs is things can and do go wrong. When I support people I take into account people have a range of skills. If things go wrong for me, then they’ll go wrong for others and really, I want people to have the best experience they can, given what technology often puts us through. On a number of occasions when I’ve assisted people who have downloaded their software, they don’t have a copy of their software to reinstall when there is a major problem. This means to fix the problem they have had to buy the software again. In other situations people have lost their product key, or the product key is in their emails on their computer which is no longer working. People should have a copy of their software and their product key stored separately to minimise the chance of having to incur additional costs and delays.
One big surprise for me was the following statement on the Microsoft Online Store.
“If your PC is running Windows 7 Home Basic or Home Premium, your files, programs and settings will easily transfer to Windows 8. If your PC is running Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate, Windows XP or Windows Vista, you will need to reinstall your programs. Some features such as touch may require a new PC. To check compatibility, visit your PC manufacturer’s website and check out www.windows.com/upgrade to run the Upgrade Assistant to check for compatibility and get more details on system requirements.”
To me an upgrade is you insert the disk, run the program, the upgrade occurs and you continue working. This is generally relatively easy for anyone who is comfortable working with technology. Having to reinstall all your programs is much more time consuming. You never know if you’ve got all the disks, the licence numbers and even if some of the programs such as drivers will even work. Reinstalling your software can often wipe existing data for some applications and that is pretty scary if you don’t know what you’re doing. I’ve often reinstalled Windows and then spent hours downloading and updating drivers for sound cards, video cards and other devices in the computer. An upgrade to a new version of Windows can mean some of your peripheral devices don’t work and may never be able to be used again with your upgraded computer.
What surprised me and I didn’t know, even though I’ve spent numerous hours researching, installed Windows 8 Release Preview, installed Windows 8 Enterprise Edition, and attended a Microsoft day-long seminar, that the upgrade will only work easily with Windows 7 Home Basic or Home Premium. I mostly now support micro and small business clients (as well as home users) and for business I’d always recommend the Pro version of Windows. People buying Home editions would often bring a computer into a large business or government environment wanting to use their computer for work, but couldn’t because it couldn’t connect to their network at work. There were also other features missing in the Home edition. Thus it was safer to purchase the Pro edition of Windows.
Now every one of those computer running the pro edition of Windows 7, will now effectively have to do what is nearly a complete reinstall of their computer. That is a very costly exercise if you are using an IT consultant to upgrade your computers. I wouldn’t upgrade a machine without first doing a review of the machine, determining what programs and data the user has on their machine, performing a backup of their hard disk, and then installing the new operating system, reinstalling all their applications, bringing across their data and then fixing any issues that have been created, such as drivers for hardware or peripherals not working. This could easily be a $300-$500 (or more) cost per machine. I personally find it hard to justify putting that amount of money into an older machine.
Windows 8 is not a simple upgrade anymore and it is now an upgrade you need to think seriously about. If you have to pay $300-$500 to upgrade an older machine, that sum of money could easily go a long way towards the cost of purchasing a new machine. With a new machine at least you know the machine has been designed to run the new operating system. You don’t have to try to fix things that didn’t work in the upgrade. Because your data is still on your old machine you can take your time to migrate your data and applications. I often leave the old decommissioned machine with the client for two weeks just in case something they hadn’t realised the was something on their old machine they needed to be migrated and now doesn’t work on their new machine. Then after that period the old machine can be cleaned and reused in another part of the business.
As an extra tip I don’t generally buy the Office software licence with the machine as that software can only be used with that machine. I purchase the more expensive stand-alone version of the Office. That enables me to use the software on two machines (a desktop and a notebook) and to transfer the software to a new machine. (I’ll need to recheck the licence to see if this still applies.) I’ve had clients who have had their computers stolen. The insurance companies won’t pay for the software and the software is only licensed for the machine that was stolen. The client can’t use the software on the new replacement machine and are thus out of pocket hundreds of dollars. I’ve also confirmed this with Microsoft.
Until today I didn’t realise that only the Home editions of Windows 7 will be a relatively straight forward upgrade exercise. That means for me, the majority of machines could potentially be equivalent to a reinstall and that is a much more time consuming and thus expensive exercise. Many of those who purchased a machine recently running Windows 7 with a $14.99 upgrade to Windows 8, will probably now be regretting they didn’t just wait and buy a new computer and save themselves the time and energy required to upgrade. I’ve recommended that my clients defer purchasing machines until after Windows 8 ships. Retailers who just wanted the sale would have been pushing out machines and not advising clients of the time and effort to upgrade. Consultants who have advised clients to purchase a Windows 7 machine and then to later update may get some agro from their clients. Some consultants would have done this knowingly to obtain additional support work and others would not have known the upgrade wouldn’t be a simple upgrade.
I’m posting this article to all my blogs including my Online Connections blog (www.blog.onlineconnections.com.au) and also each of the JustLocal postcode blogs I maintain, to ensure people I support now know if they are thinking of upgrading to Windows 8, there is more work involved than previously anticipated.
If you’d like to be kept informed with technology related news, most news is posted to my Online Connections blog (www.blog.onlineconnections.com.au). For clients I also provide the MyAnswers solution database where I post problems and solutions I find when working with clients. This enables me to share solutions between clients reducing the costs overall for all clients. You can keep updated on new solutions on MyAnswers by looking at the Recent solutions posted. I expect to post quite a number of issues and solutions relating to Windows 8.
Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer advice and support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham, Templestowe Lower, Lower Plenty, Doncaster East, Montmorency, Bulleen, Warrandyte and Research with no travel or call-out fee. For suburbs outside this area travel time is chargeable.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Windows 8 release date in Australia is today. Windows 8 Pro upgrade available now.
Windows 8 Pro upgrade is now available for download from Microsoft’s Online Store for $39.99. There are a number of things you should keep in mind.
1. Whilst at $39.99 the Windows 8 Pro upgrade is a bargain compared to previous upgrades, if you have an ageing computer think about whether it is best to save the money and put it towards a new computer, or to install Windows 8 Pro to keep your existing computer going and use the latest version of Windows.
2. Keep in mind Windows 8 is very different from what you are used to. At first this will be frustrating for most, but as with all past changes, once you get used to it, it won’t really matter.
3. Around 10% of older computers I’d estimate won’t be able to be upgraded. I estimate there will be over 100 million computers currently being used worldwide which won’t handle the upgrade. Check Microsoft’s refund policy, or the policy of the store where you purchase the software. The system requirements stated on the Microsoft web site do not take into account many computers which exceed the minimum requirement cannot install the Windows 8 upgrade. This is based on testing the Windows 8 Preview Release and I don’t believe this has changed.
The Microsoft Online Store provides a link to the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant which you can use to test if your computer can install Windows 8. I’d recommend running the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant before purchasing the Window 8 Pro upgrade. On the netbook computer I use (it is around three years old) 11 issues were found and one was quite serious.
4. Keep in mind only upgrading from Windows 7 is what we’d normally consider a real upgrade. Windows Vista and Windows 8 will require reinstallation of your applications and isn’t an upgrade to me. My concern here is people running the upgrade on a Vistra or Windows XP machine will end up with a machine where there programs won’t run if they don’t understand how the upgrade works. I’d suggest Windows XP and Windows Vista users consider the upgrade to be like a fresh install. If you had to do a new install of your computer what do you need to save first.
5. You should perform a backup of your data (including programs you may have download and any settings your programs may store) before you perform any upgrade to your computer.
I’m suggesting to my clients they should purchase the upgrade to Windows 8 Pro even if they don’t install the upgrade right now. Until January 31st 2013 you’ll be able to buy Windows 8 Pro via download for $39.99. After that date the price will most likely revert to the very expensive upgrade prices of past, which means it may no longer be worth upgrading an older machine. This of course may change and Microsoft may decide to keep the upgrade prices at a reasonable level, but I wouldn’t count on it. Based on what I’ve read the upgrade to Windows 8 Pro on DVD could cost as much as $290. To me it doesn’t make sense to pay that much money to upgrade an older machine when that money could go to a new and faster machine.
You can buy Windows 8 Pro upgrade from a retailer, or save some money and download the upgrade from the Microsoft Online Store. The upgrade from a retailer will cost around $20-$30 more. I’m not sure at the moment, but I suspect the retail version may include a DVD. You should check if the DVD is included in the purchase from a retailer.
As I find issues with Windows 8 I’ll add the issues and solutions to MyAnswers for clients. I’ve already identified and documented a shortcoming of Windows 8 Mail which largely stops me from using Windows 8 Mail and may stop others.
Most importantly, do run the Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant first to make sure upgrading your computer won’t cause you any grief. Well, no more grief than normal.
If you forget where you can download the Windows 8 upgrade, the Microsoft Online Store is available on the main page of JustLocal (www.JustLocal.com.au). JustLocal is an advertising service I’ve created to help local businesses advertise cost effectively.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.
NOTE: The link to the Microsoft store above is an affiliate link. Purchasing using this link means I receive a commission but does not affect the price you pay.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Eastern freeway at at crawl from Chandler Highway to Hoddle Street
I'm told this isn't unusual. How people put up with the daily grind of this trip is beyond me.
By focusing on working locally I'm now lucky enough to avoid such a frustrating trip. With the occasional job or seminar in the city I can usually avoid the congestion.
Think local for work, but if you can't, perhaps find company and use the T2.
If you need help building up your local business consider JustLocal and help yourself and help build a stronger local community.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you require help with your computer.
No problem too small.
PS. On the freeway two cars were in the emergency lane with the bus attempting to move into the traffic. On Hoddle Street near the freeway exit, police, fire brigade and ambulance were at the scene of an accident. A motor bike was pinned under a four wheel drive. Hoddle is light after the accident.
Monday, October 22, 2012
Compulsory voting for council elections but...
Now I see the following for the council election.
<<< photo missing >>>
To me this just seems absurd. Surely they should just make voting optional for over 70's.
I assisted one elderly person who was hysterical thinking they'd have the wrath of the government on them if they didn't vote and had no clue what the information in the postal vote meant. If you've tried to read and understand what the government sends out for the state election, you'll find it quite verbose and difficult to understand.
At a time when we should make it easier for the elderly, or in fact all people, the government makes it harder in their own interests.
First Julia Gillard redefines the meaning of misogyny and now compulsory doesn't mean compulsory.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you require help with your computer.
No problem too small.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Big Switch Projects run by Gavin Gilchrist blog spamming.
Tonight I received a comment on my blog on the article “One Big Switch on The Project” (http://justlocal.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/one-big-switch-on-project.html). The following is the comment. I’ve changed the link at the end so it now fails.
“I recall correctly on The Project they said there was a three year contract. I for one wouldn’t want to be locked into such a long term contract. beec”
What I thought was interesting is the person who created the comment had taken a section of the blog I’d written and made it very relevant to the blog. I check each comment because 95% plus of comments are blog spam and it is usually easy to tell from what has been written, or there is a link to promote another site in the comment. In this case because it reflected what had been said in the blog post it could have easily tricked me to release the comment. The link however made it look suspect. This is one of the techniques businesses are using other people’s blogs to promote themselves.
When I checked my logs this comment was entered by someone in Pakistan. The link however is for an Australian site so the spam has been outsourced. Here is a copy of part of the log.
Host: 59.103.212.199
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
NOTE: The time is based on the hosting provider which is in the Houston Texas. The comment was received at 8:52pm Melbourne local time which is four minutes after the site was visited confirming this is the relevant log entry.
My guess is Gavin Gilchrist at Big Switch Projects has probably had his web developer to do some Search Engine Optimisation. I recently had a mobile vet in Melbourne do the same thing. When I contacted the vet they didn’t have a clue their web developer was using blog spamming to promote the vets business.
Be careful of the companies you use to promote your business. If they aren’t behaving ethically this will reflect on your business. Blog spamming is still spam. Using other people’s sites and resources and thus creating work for them to remove the spam is not appropriate. If you read this Gavin please stop blog spamming.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Friday, October 19, 2012
Google search Australia and Google advertising has now been removed from JustLocal.
Recently Google updated their search algorithm which resulted in my dictionary page going from the number one position in Google when people search for “Australian dictionary” to nowhere to be seen. That means around a thousand people each week using my free Australian English dictionary service will no longer find a free Australian English dictionary service. If Google can do that to me so easily, they can do it to any business.
I’ve also noticed that between 25% and up to possibly 40% of searches coming to my site have no search term, which means people are logged onto a Google service and whatever they search for is being tracked to them individually.
These actions concern me. I don’t want to encourage people to put time and effort into creating a presence in Google search results when any time, effort, or money they outlay, could easily end up being wiped away so easily. I’m also very concerned about the privacy of Australians. Over 90% of Australians use Google for searching with 25-40% of those having their search activity tracked to them individually. I’ve read this information can be handed to law enforcement agencies without a court order. How this information is being used by others is not known to us and for me that is a concern.
Whilst I can’t stop using all Google services, I’ve decided at this point to remove Google advertising from my site and the Google custom search engine.
JustLocal has been designed to provide single click access to businesses in an area. Something which is very difficult and time consuming with a search engine. For example, a very popular fish and chip shop called Shark Tank Seafood opened a few months ago in Templestowe. My blog entries appear in Google’s search results, but the page with the menu at http://www.justlocal.com.au/clients/shark-tank-seafood-templestowe/ cannot be found. If you visit www.JustLocal.com.au/3106 (the page for Templestowe), you can access the Shark Tank Seafood menu with a single click.
JustLocal offers single click access to local businesses. Google offers endless searches with no guarantee of finding what you want.
By continuing to include Google’s custom search in JustLocal, people will continue to unproductively search for local businesses often being presented with large overseas businesses, or business not in the area with deep pockets to advertise. Once people realise there is a better way to find a local business using JustLocal, JustLocal will grow to service locals better. Shark Tank Seafood receives over a hundred views of their menu a month as a result of JustLocal’s efforts to promote them. That’s a lot of potential business.
Thank you for your continued support and I trust JustLocal assists local businesses and residents.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.JustLocal.com.au
Help to build a stronger local community through stronger local businesses.
Alert: CatchOfTheDay.com.au - Ipad 3 Limited Offer
This is a fake and should be deleted immediately. Don't click on the link.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if you require help with your computer.
No problem too small.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Australian dictionary for Microsoft Office.
The Australian dictionary available in Microsoft Office is often criticised for including American spelling, but what isn’t generally known, is the real problem is the dictionary includes multiple ways to spell the same word, such as organise and organize.
For years I had no clue as to which was the correct spelling and I find most people are in exactly the same situation. It turns out it isn’t so much which is correct, but which is preferred in Australia. If the preferred spelling isn’t used, many people think the American spelling is being used and that the writer can’t spell correctly. For students this can mean a reduction in their marks and for businesses the perceived lower quality of their writing, could lead them to miss out of valuable sales. Often it is the small differences which makes one presentation better than another. Don’t let your spelling be the reason you lose marks, that next sale, or even your dream job.
The solution is very easy and cost effective. I’ve produced an Exclude file you can load into your computer which will mark the secondary spelling of thousands of words as spelling errors, which means you end up using the preferred Australian English spelling without a second thought.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Reports from people they can't find the free Australian dictionary using Google
Until recently over a thousand people a week were able to search for and find the only Australian dictionary which provided the preferred Australian English spelling for free. It appears Google may have updated their search algorithm which has caused the site to disappear from their search results.
Unfortunately there is nothing I can do. If even a small percentage of people who used the dictionary provided a link to the page this would let Google know they feel the page is important. My logs unfortunately suggest almost no one bothers to provide a link, but people use the dictionary and disappear. That’s normally OK but unfortunately without giving something back such as a link Google is not able to tell how important the dictionary is to others.
I’ve found Google as a search engine is getting worse and worse. They provide distorted results pushing their own agenda to the top and (maps, local listings, etc.) and more recently people find their own pages and pages they’ve visited closer to the top which makes them think they are doing better in Google results than they are.
I find it quite amazing how Google operates. Over 50,000-100,000 people a year have been using the dictionary I provide and now people can’t find it.
If you want to find the dictionary you may wish to use Bing. The page is the second in the results. A better approach is to use JustLocal (www.JustLocal.com.au) where you’ll find the Australian Dictionary plus many of my other tools.
Sorry to everyone for the inconvenience. Unfortunately I can’t control what Google does and you never know when they are going to change things. Best to bookmark the page if you’re using a desktop computer or if you’re using a mobile phone, add an icon to your home screen.
It is always possible the page may return to Google search results. I’ve seen pages disappear and return in Google in the past. With Google you never know what to expect.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Creator and maintainer of the preferred Australian English spelling dictionary.
Microsoft Windows RT tablet Australian release date. Now availabe for pre-order on Microsoft online store.
Microsoft Windows RT tablet will shortly be made available to Australians and has now been added to the Microsoft online store (see note below) for pre-orders. A link is also provided from the main page of JustLocal (www.JustLocal.com.au) to the Microsoft store.
I would advice my clients to think carefully about purchasing a Microsoft Windows RT tablet and have produced MyAnswers solution 2262. MyAnswers solutions are available for clients on a pay-what-you-wish basis. If the solution gives you value, you decide how much you wish to pay.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Doncaster, Templestowe, Eltham and the surrounding area.
NOTE: The link above to the Microsoft online store is an affiliate link which means a commission is received for purchases. This does not affect your purchase price. As a consultant I believe I have an obligation to advise clients on any indirect revenue generated so clients can make the best decision for themselves.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
American English spellcheck dictionary
I’ve now released an American English spellcheck dictionary (www.american-dictionary.com) which is similar in operation to the Preferred Australian English dictionary. Often when you find a word you feel may not be spelt correctly, such as jewelry, being able to easily check the reason is because it is an American spelling can be quite handy.
Renée Purdie of Rising Star Designs and Communication (www.risingstardesigns.com.au), has offered to edit the dictionary as new words and found and require investigation and validation. Also to remove existing words people may not feel are correct.
If you find words which you feel should be added or removed from the American dictionary please let me know.
Please enjoy.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
