After a nice weekend with my family in Idaho, I reviewed traffic statistics for FamilyLearn and the number of new members shot above average, even doubled. After doing a little research about where the traffic originated, I discovered MSN has made their beta search engine live. FamilyLearn holds top positions for family tree and family history on beta MSN and the traffic has begun to pour in. Thank you MSN. We appreciate it.

Yahoo just released Desktop search to compete with Google. It seems to be based on X1 but it’s free.

About a year ago, I heard the founder of www.logoworks.com speak and really liked his business model for logos. He realized that most people pay a designer or firm to do their logo or website and when they don’t like the outcome, the same artist does the second draft. What if you don’t like the artist’s style? It doesn’t matter how many drafts you do.

LogoWorks gives you drafts from different artists with different styles. You choose which style you like. He’s expanding into websites. I’ve used their services for different projects and they’ve always done a good job (I can’t believe they’ve managed to do it for $265).

When I posted about MSN and Inknomi liking FamilyLearn, I really thought things were a fluke and that the site would quickly drop in rankings. On the contrary, it just got better. We’ll enjoy this while it lasts.
FamilyLearn moves to the top for Family History.

I’ve been using SendStudio lately on a project for WorldHistory.com and I’ve really enjoyed it. Simple. Easy to use. Adequate tracking. It’s a decent value. They have an affiliate program set up on ShareASale.com.

I easily switched from bblog to WordPress with a script and some .htaccess tricks that made it so none of my links are broken. I’m liking the WordPress features and look much better.

Well, I wondered how Google did it, here’s how.

Recently, Inktomi seems to be treating us well and has given us first page results for “how to make a family tree” (MSN | Yahoo), “making a family tree” (MSN | Yahoo), “create a family tree” (MSN | Yahoo), and “build a family tree” (MSN | Yahoo).

How do I know Inktomi likes us? Well, their spider collects content for Yahoo Search and MSN Search. Take a look at the searches above in those search engines. Thank you Inktomi for the traffic.

They’ve also listed us on the second page for “family history”.

Even better is the new Beta MSN Search. They’ve given us the #3 position for “family history”. I’ve taken a photo of it just in case it doesn’t last:
family history results at the new BETA MSN Search

If it does last until beta becomes the MSN search engine, then we’d better buy some more servers.

You’ll notice that the pages read well for the search engines, but especially for the visitors.

I’ve heard about Google indexing TV programs, now they’re indexing libraries. Think about the educational and business opportunities that this will create. All those works in the public domain, searched instantly online, free of charge. It’s a fun time to be alive.

Google suggest uses javascript in a very useful way. I wonder how they do it?


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