There are a lot of resources on the web providing you with free pictures and images that you can use for your blog or website. For many of those resources, exactly how and in what manner you can use the images provided, is not clearly defined.
While you probably will not run into any legal issues even if you misuse the images, why would you want to run the risk when you can find sites in which the terms of use are clearly defined. Besides, you won't like it when somebody misuses your images, right?
I have found the following sites with plenty of images, with clearly defined terms of use. Unless your needs are rather specific, I am quite sure that the images in the following sites will more than adequate for your needs:
PD Photo - Thousands of photos in the public domain.
Public-Domain-Photos.com - Contains 5,000 photos and 8,000 cliparts in the public domain. But do be careful if the image contains logos or products or if there is a recognizable person or persons on it.
FreeDigitalPhotos.net - All images are offered at no cost and royalty free. If you want to use it on your website, you will need to include a link back, or purchase a higher resolution version. As the photographer, you can sell your photos here as well.
Stock.XCHNG - Nearly 400,000 quality stock photos by more than 30.000 photographers. Free for most uses although some restrictions might apply to certain photos.
EveryStockPhoto - This site is a search engine for free photos. Millions of photos are indexed here. Most photos are free to use, under specific licenses. Licenses include a variety of Creative Commons, GNU, public domain, and custom free licenses.
Creative Commons Content Directories - And if all else fails, try this directory. It lists hundreds of directories that has content licensed under a variety of Creative Commons licenses. Types of content include audio, video, text and images. If you can't find what you need here, maybe it's not available. :)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
SEO Discovery - Not Ranked III (Part 2 of 4)
Having found that all the pages of other sites of which I am a member of are also not ranked, I experimented a little further. I did a search on Google for "very best business opportunity", and came up with the following:
Url: http://www.wsicorporate.com/article/The_very_best_work_from_home_business
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: http://www.myworldplusbiz.com/2009/03/15/the-very-best-internet-home-business-opportunity/
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: http://www.businessopportunitiesandideas.co.uk/454/the-top-100-business-blogs
Page Rank: 4
Url: http://www.home-based-business-world.com/
Page Rank: 3
Url: http://www.amazines.com/Business_Opportunities/article_detail.cfm/831264?articleid=831264
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: http://www.makeyourich.com.au/the-very-best-business-opportunity-home-based-business.html
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: http://www.homenetpro.com/home-based-business.html
Page Rank: 3
Url: http://www.best-home-business-ideas.net/
Page Rank: 4
Url: http://www.personaltouchproducts.com/
Page Rank: 3
Url: http://www.ukdropshop.com/
Page Rank: 3
For the top 10 results, 4 of those results were not ranked. Of the 6 that were ranked, 4 were home pages. All ranked pages were ranked 3 or 4. The search yielded a respectable 55,000,000 results.
It seems that page rank is not that big a factor after all. I am quite sure it still plays a part, but how big a part? It is also interesting to note that of the 6 pages ranked, all were ranked either 3 or 4.
And for all the pages which were not ranked, I checked the main page to see the its page ranking. The results are:
Url: http://www.wsicorporate.com/
Page Rank: 6
Url: http://www.myworldplusbiz.com/
Page Rank: 2
Url: http://www.amazines.com/
Page Rank: 4
Url: http://www.makeyourich.com.au/
Page Rank: 2
Although I will need more data to be more sure, it certainly is starting to look like a high ranking in the engines is really about delivering relevant results, with the page's page rank and the page's domain's page rank playing a small part.
It does make sense since Google is in the business of providing the most relevant search result possible. And maybe page rank is a lot of smoke and mirrors, to distract the people trying to game the system.
Url: http://www.wsicorporate.com/article/The_very_best_work_from_home_business
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: http://www.myworldplusbiz.com/2009/03/15/the-very-best-internet-home-business-opportunity/
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: http://www.businessopportunitiesandideas.co.uk/454/the-top-100-business-blogs
Page Rank: 4
Url: http://www.home-based-business-world.com/
Page Rank: 3
Url: http://www.amazines.com/Business_Opportunities/article_detail.cfm/831264?articleid=831264
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: http://www.makeyourich.com.au/the-very-best-business-opportunity-home-based-business.html
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: http://www.homenetpro.com/home-based-business.html
Page Rank: 3
Url: http://www.best-home-business-ideas.net/
Page Rank: 4
Url: http://www.personaltouchproducts.com/
Page Rank: 3
Url: http://www.ukdropshop.com/
Page Rank: 3
For the top 10 results, 4 of those results were not ranked. Of the 6 that were ranked, 4 were home pages. All ranked pages were ranked 3 or 4. The search yielded a respectable 55,000,000 results.
It seems that page rank is not that big a factor after all. I am quite sure it still plays a part, but how big a part? It is also interesting to note that of the 6 pages ranked, all were ranked either 3 or 4.
And for all the pages which were not ranked, I checked the main page to see the its page ranking. The results are:
Url: http://www.wsicorporate.com/
Page Rank: 6
Url: http://www.myworldplusbiz.com/
Page Rank: 2
Url: http://www.amazines.com/
Page Rank: 4
Url: http://www.makeyourich.com.au/
Page Rank: 2
Although I will need more data to be more sure, it certainly is starting to look like a high ranking in the engines is really about delivering relevant results, with the page's page rank and the page's domain's page rank playing a small part.
It does make sense since Google is in the business of providing the most relevant search result possible. And maybe page rank is a lot of smoke and mirrors, to distract the people trying to game the system.
SEO Discovery - Not Ranked III (Part 1 of 4)
Following the discovery that probably all the pages of my home business site is not ranked except for the home page, I decided to look at a couple of other pages of other sites of which I am a member of.
The result? All the pages that I looked at below are not ranked.
EzineArticles Directory
Url: EzineArticles Profile
Description: Profile page
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: Start an Internet Business Or Get a Job
Description: Article published a few months ago
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: Tips on How to Design a Great Site
Description: Article published a few months ago
Page Rank: Not ranked
Twitter
Url: Twitter Profile
Description: Profile page
Page Rank: Not ranked
HubPages
Url: HubPages Profile
Description: Profile page
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: FAQ: How Do I Make A Lot Of Money On The Internet
Description: Article published a few months ago
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: Why is a Blue Film Called a Blue Film
Description: Article published one and a half weeks ago and getting a tiny bit of search traffic.
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: Why Do Unbelievers Always Want Proof
Description: Article published a less than an hour ago
Page Rank: Not ranked
The result? All the pages that I looked at below are not ranked.
EzineArticles Directory
Url: EzineArticles Profile
Description: Profile page
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: Start an Internet Business Or Get a Job
Description: Article published a few months ago
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: Tips on How to Design a Great Site
Description: Article published a few months ago
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: Twitter Profile
Description: Profile page
Page Rank: Not ranked
HubPages
Url: HubPages Profile
Description: Profile page
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: FAQ: How Do I Make A Lot Of Money On The Internet
Description: Article published a few months ago
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: Why is a Blue Film Called a Blue Film
Description: Article published one and a half weeks ago and getting a tiny bit of search traffic.
Page Rank: Not ranked
Url: Why Do Unbelievers Always Want Proof
Description: Article published a less than an hour ago
Page Rank: Not ranked
Saturday, March 28, 2009
SEO Discovery - No Rank II (Part 2 of 3)
I got a bit side-tracked in my previous post about the internal pages of my home business site having no page rank. It was really interesting to see that a page that was not even ranked could do well in the search results. I will start taking a closer look at the page rank of the pages and sites that are at the top of the results, but that will be the subject of another post.
In the next 2 or 3 days, I will change the title and description to match the subject matter of the page. And I will check every day to see when Google updates the information and to see if the page rank of any of the internal pages change.
Incidentally, I wonder if you have noticed how I have been linking. In the past, if I had wanted to link to my home business site, I would have asked people to visit my site on home businesses at http://quittingyourjob.com/.
The focus is on the domain name of the site. I wanted to highlight the name so that they can remember and revisit it.
But I have changed my linking strategy so that I link to my site in a different way. I use keywords relating to the subject matter of the site to link to it. Instead of highlighting the domain name, I will ask you to visit my site about running a home business.
In the previous linking method, Google gets nothing but the domain name, which it knows anyway. In the second method, I am telling Google that the site I am linking to is about running a home business.
Stay tuned to see how long it takes for Google to update its info on my site after I have changed the title and description.
In the next 2 or 3 days, I will change the title and description to match the subject matter of the page. And I will check every day to see when Google updates the information and to see if the page rank of any of the internal pages change.
Incidentally, I wonder if you have noticed how I have been linking. In the past, if I had wanted to link to my home business site, I would have asked people to visit my site on home businesses at http://quittingyourjob.com/.
The focus is on the domain name of the site. I wanted to highlight the name so that they can remember and revisit it.
But I have changed my linking strategy so that I link to my site in a different way. I use keywords relating to the subject matter of the site to link to it. Instead of highlighting the domain name, I will ask you to visit my site about running a home business.
In the previous linking method, Google gets nothing but the domain name, which it knows anyway. In the second method, I am telling Google that the site I am linking to is about running a home business.
Stay tuned to see how long it takes for Google to update its info on my site after I have changed the title and description.
Friday, March 27, 2009
SEO Discovery - No Rank II (Part 1 of 3)
Following the discovery that this blog has no Google page rank, I did a check of my website about starting an online business.
The home page returned a page rank of 4. Not bad considering that it is rarely updated, and that I have link exchanges going on in the site where a page can have a lot of outgoing links.
I checked an internal page (not a link page), and it returned a "not ranked". Same thing happened with a few other pages. Apparently, other than the home page, all the rest of the pages on that site is probably not ranked.
The site is an old site so Google would have had plenty of time to crawl the site. Other than link exchanges, I did not engage in any other questionable activites. And link exchanges will not get you banned. What's going on?
I went to Google and typed in "link:quittingyourjob.com". Google returned 145 results, so practically the whole site is indexed. It is possible that the rest of the site is considered supplemental, or having near identical content.
But the content of the site is 100% original, with each page having different content. Why does Google consider the rest of the site supplemental?
I took another look at the results again and discovered something interesting. It seems that every single of the results, with some exceptions, bears the same description. I have reproduced some of the results below:
It's not very clear but you get the picture.
To be expedient, I had simply used the same title and description for every page of my site. To Google, that probably means that the internal page is probably a close duplicate and less important.
I zoomed in on one of the pages about why most people fail at online businesses. First, I confirmed that it does not have a PR rating. Then, I took a phrase from the page, "we live in an impatient society", and did a search on Google for it. I did not use double quotes.
The search returned 332,000 results. The page was not on the first page. I dug deeper in and found the page in 27th spot!
That is definitely a surprise to me as I never expected a page that is not ranked to be so close to the top spot. I checked the page rank of the 5 pages below me and found that there was 1 PR3, 1 PR1, 1 PR0 and 2 pages are not ranked.
It is impossible to come to a definite conclusion as to the implications and significance of this. But I think it would be fair to say that while page rank is a factor, it is not a very big one. Overall, the relevance of the webpage wins hands down when determining its position in the search result.
The home page returned a page rank of 4. Not bad considering that it is rarely updated, and that I have link exchanges going on in the site where a page can have a lot of outgoing links.
I checked an internal page (not a link page), and it returned a "not ranked". Same thing happened with a few other pages. Apparently, other than the home page, all the rest of the pages on that site is probably not ranked.
The site is an old site so Google would have had plenty of time to crawl the site. Other than link exchanges, I did not engage in any other questionable activites. And link exchanges will not get you banned. What's going on?
I went to Google and typed in "link:quittingyourjob.com". Google returned 145 results, so practically the whole site is indexed. It is possible that the rest of the site is considered supplemental, or having near identical content.
But the content of the site is 100% original, with each page having different content. Why does Google consider the rest of the site supplemental?
I took another look at the results again and discovered something interesting. It seems that every single of the results, with some exceptions, bears the same description. I have reproduced some of the results below:
It's not very clear but you get the picture.
To be expedient, I had simply used the same title and description for every page of my site. To Google, that probably means that the internal page is probably a close duplicate and less important.
I zoomed in on one of the pages about why most people fail at online businesses. First, I confirmed that it does not have a PR rating. Then, I took a phrase from the page, "we live in an impatient society", and did a search on Google for it. I did not use double quotes.
The search returned 332,000 results. The page was not on the first page. I dug deeper in and found the page in 27th spot!
That is definitely a surprise to me as I never expected a page that is not ranked to be so close to the top spot. I checked the page rank of the 5 pages below me and found that there was 1 PR3, 1 PR1, 1 PR0 and 2 pages are not ranked.
It is impossible to come to a definite conclusion as to the implications and significance of this. But I think it would be fair to say that while page rank is a factor, it is not a very big one. Overall, the relevance of the webpage wins hands down when determining its position in the search result.
SEO Discovery - Indexing Time
As an experiment on how long to takes for Google to index a blog post, I took note of the time that I published the last post about this blog having no page rank. The time was 3:48 pm.
I took a phrase from the post, "This blog is not banned by Google", enclosed it in double quotes and did a search on Google. There were no results.
I went about my work, repeating the search every minute or so. At 4:03pm, 15 minutes later, my post popped up in the search results.
Note that all I did was publish the post. I did not do any further actions to promote it.
I took a phrase from the post, "This blog is not banned by Google", enclosed it in double quotes and did a search on Google. There were no results.
I went about my work, repeating the search every minute or so. At 4:03pm, 15 minutes later, my post popped up in the search results.
Note that all I did was publish the post. I did not do any further actions to promote it.
SEO Discovery - No Rank I
This blog has been online for a few months now. It started as "Five Big Ones", and still is named as such, after my ambition to make an income of $5000 per month by Jan 2009. As they say, life happened, and I fell far from the target. I will write about that one day.
Anyway, the point that I'm trying to make is that is blog has been around for at least half a year. I decided to check its PR rating using the Page Rank Tool in the previous post. I expected a page rank of 0 or 1 as this blog is not really promoted.
To my surprise, this blog is not ranked. There appear to be 4 possible reasons:
1. This blog is new and not indexed yet.
2. This blog has been indexed but not ranked yet.
3. This blog has been indexed but is recognized as supplemental.
4. This blog has been banned by Google.
I did a search for links to this blog using "link:fivebigones.blogspot.com" and google returned no results, although I know that there are at least a few links out there. Maybe those links does not count towards the page ranking of this blog. Anyway, I'll explore that another time.
What I want to establish is whether any page of this blog will show up in any search results at all, and whether this blog is in Google's index.
So, I looked up a former post about hyped up information on the Internet, and zeroed in on the phrase "misleading and hyped up information". I did a search on Google and came up with 89,200 matching sites. I went through the first few pages of results and my post did not come up.
I typed in the same phrase again, this time enclosing it in double quotes. There were 2 results, with my post taking the top spot.
Although not the subject of this post, I thought that it would be interesting to mention that "search bar" on the Google site says the following:
Results 1 - 2 of 2 for "misleading and hyped up information". (0.18 seconds)
Notice that "hyped up" is underlined together. Might have some implications when targetting keywords but that's another story for another day.
For now, the only definite conclusions are:
1. This blog is not banned by Google.
2. This blog is indexed and does show up in the search result, although it is very poorly ranked.
Anyway, the point that I'm trying to make is that is blog has been around for at least half a year. I decided to check its PR rating using the Page Rank Tool in the previous post. I expected a page rank of 0 or 1 as this blog is not really promoted.
To my surprise, this blog is not ranked. There appear to be 4 possible reasons:
1. This blog is new and not indexed yet.
2. This blog has been indexed but not ranked yet.
3. This blog has been indexed but is recognized as supplemental.
4. This blog has been banned by Google.
I did a search for links to this blog using "link:fivebigones.blogspot.com" and google returned no results, although I know that there are at least a few links out there. Maybe those links does not count towards the page ranking of this blog. Anyway, I'll explore that another time.
What I want to establish is whether any page of this blog will show up in any search results at all, and whether this blog is in Google's index.
So, I looked up a former post about hyped up information on the Internet, and zeroed in on the phrase "misleading and hyped up information". I did a search on Google and came up with 89,200 matching sites. I went through the first few pages of results and my post did not come up.
I typed in the same phrase again, this time enclosing it in double quotes. There were 2 results, with my post taking the top spot.
Although not the subject of this post, I thought that it would be interesting to mention that "search bar" on the Google site says the following:
Results 1 - 2 of 2 for "misleading and hyped up information". (0.18 seconds)
Notice that "hyped up" is underlined together. Might have some implications when targetting keywords but that's another story for another day.
For now, the only definite conclusions are:
1. This blog is not banned by Google.
2. This blog is indexed and does show up in the search result, although it is very poorly ranked.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)