First things first. You have to make sure your company’s SLAs(Service Level Agreements) are met. That means you are going to need a server that’s running smoother than a baby’s bottom. You don’t want to leave the health of your server to chance. Bad things can happen, and you’ll be blamed. Remember, we live in the social media world now. Even the smallest problem on your end can blow up to a huge PR snafu once Twitter gets a hold of it.

Well, keeping a functioning server isn’t as hard as it sounds. We have scoured the net and found 7 insanely useful server monitoring tools. Give these a try and secure some peace of mind.

1. Pingdom

Pingdom is available on PCs and as an iPhone application. It makes sure your website is reachable and responding properly at all times. It goes as far as to provide you with SMS alerts if it’s not. It also monitors uptime and overall performance, which it illustrates via easily understandable charts and tables.

2. McAfee Secure

McAfee is a trusted name in computer security. McAfee Secure constantly monitors your servers for potential security breaches and threats. It’s goal is to protect end-users of your website from all manner of Internet danger, be them credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses or online scams. Every day the program tests your site and, if passed, awards the site with a certification mark to give your users a little confidence. The program currently certifies over 80,000 websites.

3. Webmetrics GlobalWatch

GlobalWatch by Webmetrics does exactly what it says it does. It watches. The service monitors a broad range of websites and Internet services. It keeps a lookout for downtime, errors and other poor performance problems. Then it sends you a diagnosis rich with easily digestible reports and measurements. It supports Web 2.0, AJAX, Flash, Java and more.

4. Solarwinds Orion Network Performance Monitor (NPM)

Orion NPM checks the efficiency of your servers, but that’s not all it does. It also monitors all of your routers, switches and wireless access points, throughout your entire network. Not bad. It’s really easy to set up, and aesthetically pleasing. What’s more is the support staff are easy to get a hold of which can be rare in the server world.  A true plug and play system.

5. Nagios

Nagios is the go-to IT infrastructure monitoring system out there. It provides a snapshot of your entire operations network and also keeps perfect tabs on the health and status of just about everything affiliated. This includes applications, network protocols, system metrics, services and operating systems. If anything smells fishy your staff will be sent instant alerts via email and SMS. Nagios is also compatible with most in-house and third party applications.

6. ENVIROMUX Server Environment Monitoring System

This system is perfect for use in a variety of places, including data centers, web hosting facilities, telecom switching sites and server closets. It’s or more or less a “real world” monitoring system for your server. It keeps an eye on temperature, humidity, liquid presence, motion, intrusion and vibration. This ensures that your server is operating in tip-top shape. You can also attach up to 8 video cameras to the system to give you that bird’s eye view.

7. Simple Server Monitor

This is the cheapest, yet serviceable, monitoring system on the market. It’s just $69.95 and this follows a 30-day free trial. However, don’t be fooled. It’s a pretty useful suite of programs. It gives minute-by-minute monitoring of uptime and sends accessible performance charts. It alerts your admins to problems via popup messages, desktop alarms, email and SMS.

It  can sometimes be a struggle in this world to, you know, get paid. This is made harder when your billing system is a mess, never knowing what should go where and to who. As anyone with a successful business knows, moving away from the paper realm to Web-based technology can be a major boon to your organization and productivity. Well here are fifty of the best and brightest online invoicing tools available. They are grouped into three of the major groups that need online invoices: Small businesses, freelancers and web designers. Enjoy!

Small Businesses

AcceptPay is from credit card company American Express. It’s often a pay service but does offer a free option with AcceptPay Lite. This allows you to email 10 invoices per month and maintain an unlimited number of customers in your account. The full version  is $20/month. It may be worth it as it integrates with QuickBooks, accepts online payments, ACH, and eChecks.

Ballpark is an online invoicing service that focuses on communication. Their dashboard tracks the back and forth conversation between you, your customer, and your team. They offer a free personal plan and the small business plans start at $6/month. Not bad a deal.

BambooInvoice is free and open source The two magic words. You load it on your own servers. It doesn’t offer it’s own hosting capabilities which can be a drag but hey it’s free. It offers a good online support forum as well.  This is the only open source application of it’s kind.

BillingBoss is a service that if useful for both small businesses and freelancers.  A really cool thing you can do with this software is you can use your existing merchant account with their Payment Plus option for $5/month. The main invoicing tool is free.

BillingOrchard offers an amazing Auto-Invoicing feature that is all the rage in the online invoicing world. It’s free to try for 15 days and then the lite version is $9.95/month. When you use the auto-invoice features, there is an additional cost per month, by number of transactions.

Blinksale targets small businesses and creative professionals who want to send well-formatted invoices  with no sweat off their backs. Their lowest price plan starts at $6 for 6 invoices a month, but you can have as many customers in the system as you want. It also integrates with Basecamp.

CannyBill is a web-based billing service that could work for small businesses or web deisgners. It offers a fully functional free account with up to 10 invoices per month. Pricing ranges up to $48/month at the enterprise level.

Cashboard is all free and lets you invoice, send estimates and accept payments online. The service also offers desktop widgets for Mac and Windows as well as as an iPhone app. There are a number of payment plans and a free lite option.

CurdBee has a free unlimited version.  It even allows you to accept Paypal and Google Checkout. However, the free version puts a logo stamp on everything.  Curdbee Premium level is only $5 a month and lets you remove the Curdbee logo from emails and invoices.

Endeve offers an eternally free plan with an unlimited number of invoices and customers. The Professional Plan is $20/month and allows you to create Pay Now buttons with Paypal, customize your invoice layouts, and manage your expenses.

Enliven Software is well suited for small or medium sized businesses. It is integrated with Microsoft Dynamics GP, Peachtree, and QuickBooks and automates accounts receivable and accounts payable processes for vendors and for customers.

Freelance Total is actually aimed at small businesses, despite the name. Their web-based software allows you to take a client-centric approach to invoices as you manage the project. Plans start at $4.95 a month. They do, however, offer a free trial.

Freshbooks is more or less the market leader in this kind of thing. It has all the bells and whistles, like time tracking and the ability to manage subcontractors who are also working on your project. They integrate with other accounting and project management systems such as QuickBooks and Basecamp. They offer a fully free plan with limitations to plans that go all the way up to $149/month.

Invoice Journal is completely free. It doesn’t offer any pricing info and suggests it will be free forever. Not the most featured of the bunch but serviceable.

The Invoice Machine is a flexible program. You can add line items in your invoice manually or from the project time tracking tool with a few clicks. You can create an HTML email invoice or attach one as a PDF. The plans range from free to $48/month.

InvoiceMore is an online billing and invoicing solution for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and businesses. It offers multiple features so that you can create, download, store, backup, print, and email PDF invoices to clients. You can also track overdue balances. They offer a free plan and plans up to $95/month.

InvoicePlace is a free service that offers payable options to the tune of $20/month. Check out the tour as it explains the suite’s many features.

Invoicera offers invoices, estimates, and client reporting that you can use to track by specific product or service. You can add team members to a client and track their invoicing as well. Plans go from free to $149/month.

Invoices Made Easy offers an online invoicing service exclusively for small service-oriented trades.  From landscapers to consultants, they offer the standard online invoicing options, but they also have an “EasyMail” service which will send your invoice via postal mail. Free 30 day trial, then $9.95/month.

Invotrak is both an online invoicing and timesheet tracker. They offer good reporting tools as well as iPhone and iPod Touch apps. They have a limited Free plan up to an Unlimited plan at $45/month. It integrates with Basecamp. Fully featured.

LiteAccounting offers four simple plans from free up to $18/month. The dashboard showcases three main options: Products/Services, Customers, and Invoices. They have a nice demo which answers most questions so you can decide without all the hassles of a sign-up.

Nett30 provides an online service for small businesses and contractors who need to make invoicing quick and user friendly. You can view real-time account summaries at any time. Send invoices as PDF, e-mail or have clients access them online. They have four varying price and service plans.

PaySimple comes at online payments with a Merchant Account background. Their service is oriented at credit card payments, ACH, eChecks, and online payment forms. They have a free setup (usually $129) and $34.95/month, then transaction fees.

Ronin is perfect for large or small businesses. Clients can log in to get their invoices or you can email them. You can try it out free without any worries of a time limit, but the free version is branded as powered by Ronin. After Free, plans range from $15/month up to $48/month.

SantexQ is a project management and time tracking tool that also lets you bill clients directly from the service. It offers web-based reporting, but also lets you export to Excel for customizing reports as you like. For a single user it is free, but limited, then only $9.95 per month for unlimited users.

Sbzone.com is a comprehensive online application suite combining sales, customer management, and accounting functions in one place. It offers a 30 day free trial and two plans: Limited Free plan and a $39.99/month.

Simplybill offers a clean and fully functional timesheet program. The dashboard offers three tabs: Invoices, Quotes, and Clients. They offer the ability to keep in contact with your customers via reminders and thank you notes. There is the standard 30-day free trial, then $5/month up to $25/month.

Simplifythis offers two services that start at $9/month: EasyBill and EasyBook. There’s no credit card required to start the free trial so why not give it a shot?

Simply Invoices keeps it simple(Like the name.) Check out the tour on their website. They offer a completely free plan and a paid $25/month plan.

Winkbill offers a robust online invoicing app at the free level all the way up to their platinum plan for $39.95/month. You can put your own logo on invoices with the free plan, but you can’t send them as a PDF. They also offer gads of templates.

Moobiz is a great suite of software with features that handle accounting, invoicing, CRM, Ecommerce, project management, website management and Email marketing. Work from anywhere, online.

Freelance

InvoiceMore is an online billing and invoicing service developed for freelancers. It provides a simple web interface for creating and sending invoices to clients and recording payments for them. You can email and generate PDF invoices, print and snail mail them, and just keep track of your clients and their payments in an easy and organized way. Not bad, guys.

Bill4Time is a web based time management and time billing software for lawyers, accountants, consultants, and other time billing freelance workers.

Zoho is an easy-to-use online invoicing program that helps you send invoices for your projects and customer expenses, receive payments and track the overall health of your freelance accounts.

BillMyClients is the perfect piece of billing software for freelancers that have a lot on their plate. Simple and easy to use.

LessAccounting is a piece of invoicing software that was developed using the Ruby On Rails platform. Again, perfect for freelance workers.

INTUIT is fast, easy and free. It allows you to create customized and professional invoices and also to send them by email. Save time by tracking overdue payments and invoice status. The all-in-one resource.

Sendinvoice does what the title purports it to do. It sends invoices to clients you are working with. The format is easy-to-read and easy to return with payment.

Invoice Journal is a web application that handles the creation and dispersal of business invoices. It is primarily for freelancers looking to get paid.

Paper Free Billing is an easy to use, safe and convenient way to send and manage your online invoices. This is a great solution for graphic artists, photographers or anyone that bills their clients directly.

Siwapp is an open source web application meant to help manage & create invoices in a simple, straightforward way.

Kashflow is another easy-to-use invoicing program aimed at freelancers.

Working Point is aimed at both freelancers and small business owners, but freelancers seem to get more use out of the product.

SideJob Track lets you quickly and easily manage your side jobs with simple, straightforward project tools. Side Job Track’s flexible data entry lets you to decide how to best fit your specific needs.

Web Designers

WORKetc offers a wide range of functions, including contact management, calendars, email marketing, project management, and of course invoice management. There is even a 14 day guarantee since web designers are so indecisive and all.

Time59 is designed for independent web designers. It can handle time and expense tracking as well as invoicing and payments. The price is only $49.95 per year and there is a risk-free 30 day trial.

Invoice2Go provides over 300 professional invoice templates to choose from. You can also send the invoices and track payments, with a free trial that lasts for thirty full days. Sort of like Netflix!

Veetro is a great little software suite aimed toward web designer. Draft invoices, send them out and keep track of payments.

Invoice2go is the perfect tool for creating invoices, purchase orders, quotes and all types of business documents. Invoice2go is the fast and easy way to invoice, estimate, bill, collect and report.There are over 300 Templates to choose from.

Wordpress is not just your friendly blogging program. It’s also, thanks to a suite of powerful plugins, a complete CMS. Let’s take a look at some of the best plugins around that will have you webmastering with the best of them in no time.

1. Simple Fields

This simple, yet useful, plugin acts as a replacement to custom fields and adds textboxes, text areas, checkboxes, radio buttons, and dropdowns. It also adds the ability to group fields together in easy-to-navigate groups. Useful little tool.

Download Plugin

2. Blog-in-Blog

Want to have the functionality of a CMS system but still be able to retain a little blog on the side? Then this is the plugin for you. This plugin lets you assign a specific category that will reroute content to a separate blog of your choosing. These are hidden from the main page so you can basically do anything you like.

Download Plugin

3. CMS Tree Page View

This plugin adds a CMS-like tree overview of all your pages to WordPress. This is just like the view afforded by a page-focused CMS. This plugin allows you to you can edit pages, view pages, add pages, search pages, and drag and drop pages to rearrange the order.

Download Plugin

4. Content Sort

This marvelous plugin adds a grid under “Posts” in the admin where users can use drag and drop to sort posts published on the first page. This functionality gives users more control over posts without having to write complicated custom loops.

Download Plugin

5. White Label CMS

This amazing plugin helps you brand Wordpress into your own fully-functioning CMS. It slices, it dices, it allows you to edit the navigation menus and dashboard to suit your site’s needs. Only only those last two.

Download Plugin

6. Inline Editor

Want to edit your content from the front end of your WordPress blog? Want to do this using the exact stylings of your blog or CMS? Then this is the plugin for you.

Download Plugin

7. CMS

This is more or less a collection of plugins that, used to together, will help your Wordpress give you the feel and usefulness of a true CMS. It includes multiple content blocks, Page manager, aFAQ plugin and more.

Download Plugin

8. Front Page Category

This plugin allows you to easily choose posts in any of your categories to appear on the front page. Also lets you exclude any categories so that they show up only in the archive pages and not on the front page.

Download Plugin

9. CMS Dashboard

This handly plugin creates a useful dashboard plugin. It features large and easily pushable buttons to make navigation a breeze. This is perfect for new Wordpress users who may not be well-versed with all of the functionality.

10. Page.ly MultiEdit

This plugin allows you to create multiple content blocks on page templates. These are fully editable and use custom fields to create simple tinyMCE  regions on those page templates.

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11. Dashboard Heaven

Dashboard Heaven offers Widget to User-level/role customization. It lets you control which user levels see which widget. Pretty useful.

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12. Edit Flow

The Edit Flow plugin improves the WordPress Admin interface for a multi-user newsroom’s editorial workflow. It gives you the ability to perform custom post statuses, post metadata and editorial commenting, and editing user groups.

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13. CMS Press

Want to create and manage custom content types? This is your ticket. It adds the flexibility to have more than just posts and pages for content by allowing the user to register their own post types in whatever fashion they choose.

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14. Magic Fields

Magic Fields is a great little plugin. It focuses on simplified content management for the admin creating custom write panels.

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15. Multiple Content Blocks

This lets you use more than one content block on a template. You need only insert one tag inside the template. User-friendly is the name of the game here. It even allows you to specify content blocks on your pages that can be easily edited by clients.

Download Plugin

16. Core Tweaks WordPress Setup

This plugin automates the proper setup of your WordPress blog for SEO use. This handles just about every aspect, including changing the permalink structure to deleting the Hello World sample post and comment, and all the options are accessible from one single page.

Download Plugin

17. Pods CMS

This is another highly usable CMS framework. It allows you to easily add and display your own content types, among other things.

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18. Flutter

Flutter is a plugin that gives the admin the ability to write panels with radio buttons, file uploads, image uploads, checkboxes and more. It also features simplified templating.

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19. WP-CMS Post Control

This gives you absolute control over the write options you use just about every user level and role. It even lets you hide unwanted items like custom fields, trackbacks and revisions.

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20. Menus Plus+

This plugin lets you create multiple customized menus with pages, posts, categories, and URLS. It lets you drag and drop to your heart’s content. A real time saver.

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21. PageMash

This plugin gives you an Ajax interface that also allows you drag-and-drop pages to place them in whatever configuration you like. This functionality also works toward modifying the page structure however you like.

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22. Role Scoper

Role Scoper is gives users a useful access control solution. It gives you CMS-like control of reading and editing permissions. Assign restrictions and roles to pages, posts and categories.

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23. CForms II

This is a powerful program that helps WordPress users get what they want out of their CMS. It offers convenient deployment of multiple Ajax driven contact forms throughout your blog or even on the same page.

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24. Scissors

Scissors acts a sort of mini-Photoshop for your CMS, allowing you to crop, resize, and rotate images. This plugin also allows automatic resizing of images when they are uploaded and supports automatic and manual watermarking of images.

Download Plugin

25. Multi-Level Navigation

This handy-dandy plugin adds an SEO friendly, accessible dropdown menu to your WordPress blog. It has a host of features and customization options.

Download Plugin

Wordpress 3.0 has arrived! The codename this time is “Thelonius” and it comes packed-in with a host of features that is going to make your blogging life a lot easier. There is a lot of information to pack in here so let’s skip the formalities and get started. Wait, are there formalities usually?

New Default Theme “Twenty Ten”

There is a new default theme in town. “Twenty Ten” has replaced the “Kubrick” theme as default and even though we can shed a tear for Kubrick, the new one is a much nicer experience. It features built-in support for child themes and header customization. It also comes with the ability to complete a host of background alterations. It truly does offer users a fresh look when they boot up their Wordpress. Below is a photo of it in action.

Let’s talk a bit about the header customization. You can upload your own headers right into the admin panel. One step. No hassles. Also, there are eight pre-installed header options to choose from. They are pretty cool, actually. Here is a photo.

Now let’s talk about the background customization options. “Thelonius” allows you to change the background of posts and pages from the back-end administration panel. There are a gad of options here. You can change the color. You can upload your own images. The sky is just about the limit. It just requires a simple line of code or two in your themes function.php file. Below is an image of the custom background panel.

Shortlink

Shortlink is Wordpress 3.0’s micro-blogging and Twitter integration. This functionality also gives you the ability to generate branded short links. Think Tinyurl etc.

Menu modifications

Wordpress 3.0 offers a supremely intuitive menu system. Simply drag and drop stuff when you want to change anything. No coding experience is necessary, even when you want to add an entirely new menu option. The system is the same for outgoing links, categories, pages and whatever else you can think of. It truly is a simple and functional marvel to behold.

Custom Post Types

This is something users have been clamoring for a while. Wordpress 3.0 makes content management a lot easier thank to this feature. This will allow WordPress theme developers to create custom content types outside pages and posts. Custom post types finally catches Wordpress up to similar services offered by Drupal and the like.

Improved Custom Taxonomies

Custom taxonomies in WordPress is another neat feature. This reduces the effort put in by developers in the creation of large websites greatly. This was available in Wordpress 2.8 but in 3.0 the system gets a welcome revamping. They now allow for hierarchical relationships and are much easier to string together to make usable lines of code. This feature may go unused by the laymen but it is a boon to experienced developers.

Multi-Site

Wordpress 3.0 allows you to manage as many blogs as you want, hundreds even, with just one install. 3.0 has merged with WordPress MU to enable this feature. Say you are designing for a client who is an umbrella company with tons of subdivisions, brands and companies. Imagine the work this new feature will save you as you go about creating websites for every facet of their business model. Word of advice though:  The feature is not enabled automatically and must be turned on via wp-config.php by adding “define(’WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, true);”

Final thoughts

Hello fully functional publishing platform. Wordpress 3.0 has finally inched us ever so closer to getting there. The new features represent a sea change of sorts of the program and it’s massive userbase. It’s evident the masterminds behind Wordpress are dedicated to simplifying the user experience while, at the same time, making it more feature rich and adaptable. This is an important balancing act and one that the company can be proud of. What features are you most excited by? Drop them in an email or the comment box.

Microsoft’s search engine division came roaring back to life this week with the release of the Internet Explorer 9 Beta. IE9 brings a whole host of innovations to the table, which finally brings IE to the adult’s table to sit with Firefox and Chrome. In some instances, actually, it shoves those other browsers right to the kiddie’s table.

So what does it do? Well for this post we are going to focus in on what the new update means for web designers. However, let’s do a general overview. First and foremost, the browser is thin. It doesn’t use that many resources, unlike IE iterations of the past. Even Firefox is becmoing quite the resource hog in recent years so this makes IE and Chrome the skinniest browsers of the lot. This is important for, well, just about everyone. Who wants a browser who is gonna muck up the entire waterworks? Nobody.

The browser even looks thinner. Check out the photo below.

Microsoft is so dedicated to this aspect that IE9 comes standard with a function called “performance monitor” which does just what the title implies: It monitors your browser’s performance and lets you know about any situations that are causing lag and gives you the tools to stop it in it’s tracks.  This is far and above what the competing browsers have offered.

Now we come to the main course. What’s in it for you burgeoning web developers? Well, first and foremost, IE9 features robust connectivity with HTML5. The use of HTML5 is opening up new arenas for developers to create all manner of applications and in-browser games. This, potentially, could work as a more “legit” and well-rounded version of the Firefox add-ons system. Steve Ballmer of Microsoft has likened his vision to that of the Apple App Store. This is great news for developers. It’s about time Microsoft decides to team up with developers and not try to bury them.

These applications could come in the form of helpful apps to make browsing easier, games or entire websites. Check out this neat game of pool made with HTML5 for IE9 below.

The functionality is full of little touches to make lives easier for developers. For instance, IE9 lets you use a wide variety of fonts without having to Photoshop images of them. No more dragging images in and out. Over and over and over. This feature alone could save dozens of manpower hours for each individual application.

HTML5 isn’t alone. Internet Explorer 9 allows the use of CSS 3 code also. This is pretty standard with the major browsers but, until now, has been conspicuously missing from Microsoft’s product. So now you all can make rounded corners until you are blue in the face. This should go far to make IE9 an all-around flashier experience.

Best of all, it’s free to use and free to get started developing for. That’s the great thing about browsers. They are free and easy to take for a test spin. If it doesn’t work out, Chrome and Firefox are waiting in the wings.

There’s been a lot of chatter lately about Google’s new instant search function and what it means to SEO. Some have already begun the somber SEO funeral procession, with casket and a trio of horn players and all. They are, perhaps, jumping the gun. Google Instant Search is absolutely not poised to kill SEO, however we all must expect a certain amount of transformation.

First of all. What is Google Instant Search? It’s a new functionality Google unveiled a couple of weeks ago that reinvents how the engine processes and shows search results. It begins searching as you type and starts showing you results well before you are done. It analyzes possible outcomes for what you are typing, as well as previous searching habits, to create a reasonable approximation of what you’ll be searching for. To some it seems psychic. There is no magic here, folks. It’s just the usual smart algorithms in place. They are just unleashed a bit sooner than usual.

Just because your searches are yielding faster refinement times doesn’t automatically change the nuances of SEO. However, it may create some quirks in the stream. First of all, users are going to start receiving feedback immediately, right from their first letter. Human nature dictates that if they are given information, they tend to refine their search accordingly. This also means that no two people could receive the same links for essentially the same information. It’s these two points that have naysayers in an uproar. They claim the days of the homogenized Internet is over. SEO is dead because everyone’s net experience is heretofore going to be absolutely different. After all, even Google is saying to expect fluctuations around organic and heavily used keywords.

But hey. All is not lost. There is certainly some smoke with accompanying mirrors going on here.

SEO contributor Stephan Spencer has this to say about the new feature in regard to SEO, “Google Instant isn’t anything to get stressed about. In regards to SEO, Google Instant is not a ‘game changer’ or a ‘disruptive technology.’ I’d argue it’s not even a major SEO development. It’s nowhere near the impact of Bing powering Yahoo’s results, for instance.

Basically, it’s business as usual. The algorithm hasn’t changed, so how users are driven to your site also hasn’t changed. The whole thing just flies by at a different speed now, thus giving the illusion of change. Webmasters need to keep doing what they do best, focusing on content, traffic, and conversions. If anything, consider it a call to arms for SEO practitioners to up their game, to amp their speed in the same way Google has.

“Google Instant demands that practitioners become more aware of what Google Suggest is recommending to searchers, how to influence Google Suggest’s recommendations, and how to win at the more competitive terms that are being predicted by Google.” Spencer adds.

One thing, though, that webmasters must account for is the new-found important of CTR. CTR  is the new ranking. The click-through rate for organic listings becomes more important than pure rankings since users will see many more search results in each session.

Also, Google Instant does modify how eyeballs move around the screen. The traditional Golden Triangle theory regarding those eye movements on search result pages is no longer true. You used to perform a search, sit back and study the results and the ads before either clicking on a listing, or modifying your query. This will now be substantially different as eyes will wander up and down between the query field, listings, Universal Search entries, and AdWords ads. Not sure how exactly this will modify SEO but it is definitely something to keep an eye on.

So as you can see, SEO is most definitely not dead. If anything it’s more interesting than ever before. It may just be entering a new golden age. The prize is there, if you are willing to take it.

Be on the lookout for the Instant functionality to be rolled out across the entire Google platform, including news, images and mobile devices. More information as it becomes available.

There has been a lot of hesitation lately regarding the evils of Facebook. Some argue they sell our private information. Some argue the chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, is some kind of monster-in-training. There’s even a movie about it. Whether or not Facebook is nefarious, the way it handles our private information has begun to ruffle some weathers. So what now?

Well this is the Internet. When some “infallible” institution, um, fails us, we move on to something better. Remember Facebook? Myspace? We used to use these in droves. Now Facebook is the go-to destination but this may not always be the case. Enter Diaspora.

Diaspora is a social network unlike any other. It’s currently being developed by four students of New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences with a consumer alpha scheduled for October of this year. So, what is it and how does it work?

Simply put, Diaspora is a social network that puts privacy controls absolutely in the hands of the user. There will be no outsourcing of information. No other websites will automatically know when you “like” something due to some backroom content-sharing deal. It makes the user the master of their own destiny. How does this work?

First of all, it’s completely open source. Betas have already been made available to would-be programmers and content developers. When money is (somewhat) taken out of the equation then the worry of privacy snatching somewhat diminishes as well.

The website has been described as a “network that allows everyone to install their own “seed” — i.e. a personal web server with a user’s photos, videos and everything else — within the larger network. That seed would be fully owned and controlled by the user, so the user could share anything and still maintain ownership over it”. (Mashable.com).

In addition to the revamped ideas of privacy, the service is going to offer some other notable functions. It will set up secure servers for sharing of multimedia files between contacts. It will also feature Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) integration. It will also feature it’s own instant messaging service, akin to Facebook chat.

Although the site is not live yet, the developers have been having their string of good luck. The press has been coming hard and fast and they started a fundraising site in order to raise $10,000 to help with developing costs. In mere days they had raised twenty times that, their final amount clocking in at more than $200,000. Certainly the idea has struck a nerve. Oddly, even Mark Zuckerberg himself donated, calling it a “cool idea.”

So let’s keep a lookout for October 2010, when the alpha becomes available to consumers. Also, let’s press on our favorite current sites, like Facebook, to implement some of these ideas into their UI. Let’s keep privacy, um, private. Once again.

More information on Diaspora can be found here.

Twitter was hacked today when a new security flaw was discovered which exploited thousands of Twitter accounts and caused users to be redirected to third party websites.

The security flaw only required users to hover over an offending link, no clickthrough was necessary. The flaw used a JavaScript function called onMouseOver which creates an event when the mouse is passed over text.

A hacker named ‘Matsta’ was found to be the one who originally initiated the hack.  The hack spread throughout twitter as users would only have to hover over a black box of text at which point the black box of text would then automatically retweet on your account.

Below is a snapshot of how the hack appeared in users timelines:

Real viruses evolve, and this Twitter hack was no different, the code changed as the hours passed and the epidemic spread – albeit with the help of people modifying the hack vs simple mutation. New variants appeared, exploring ways to increase the virulence of the code, making it more disruptive and contagious.

Twitter was finally able to correct the situation at around 11:45 EST today. Twitter Got Hacked is now a trending topic on Twitter.

Interesting note about worms: The self-replicating code of the Twitter hack is known as a worm, but in biological terms it behaved just like a virus.

The Internet offers a wide variety of SEO tools, targeting just about every aspect of business and personal life. There are so many, however, that figuring out the best and brightest can be quite the laborious task. Don’t stress out! Webrulon is here to turn lead into gold. We’ve scoured the net and collected the absolute best of the best SEO tools.

Here is how the list works. We picked the best SEO tool that does a certain thing, wrote a short description, and then placed similar yet also good tools underneath it. This way if the one we chose as the best doesn’t suit your fancy you’ll have another option waiting in the wings. Enjoy!

Now, onto the list:

* Ranking Checker by SEOmoz.com

This SEO tool is perfect for you OCD bloggers out there. It allows you to check your rankings for up to 5 keywords per day. It’s absolutely free and the tool also archives all of the searches for easy access. Just sign up for a free SEOmoz account and you are good to go. It even lets you download the archived rankings as a CSV. Cool!  So add up five daily words times thirty average days in a month and that’s a whopping 150 monthly searches.

Similar and also useful:

Keyword Research Tool – Webmaster toolkit

Keyword External Tool – Google Adwords 

* MultiRank Checker by iWebtool.com

In the old days if you wanted to check the Google Page Rank and the Alexa Ranking for many search terms at once you’d be forced to spend all day inputting the information one by one. This useful eliminates that archaic way of doing things and replaces it with a hyper-functional bulk search engine. A great time saver.

Similar but also useful:

Keyword Suggestion Tool – Self SEO 

Competition Tool – SEO Digger 

* Fiddler Web Debugging Tool by Fiddlertool.com

The Charles debugging tool and similar looks are extremely useful. The downside? They can be pricey. The Charles debugging tool alone will set you back at least fifty bucks. Why spend that much when similar and equally functional tools lurk all around the net? Take this one for instance. Fiddler performs the same debugging tools as it’s competitors but with a distinct advantage: It’s free! It’s currently available only for Windows and does require the .NET framework but otherwise, it’s go time. Also, as an added bonus, Fiddler won’t freeze up your computer or browser like some of those Firefox add-ons. Not saying any names. Cough cough. Tamper Data.

Similar but also useful:

SEOpen  

* SEO Analyzer by Sitening.com

Wanna optimizer your site? You could do no better than this handy tool. It gives you a detailed report assessing the components of your website that could use some tweaking. You can even download any previous report as a PDF file for easy perusing.  This isn’t a substitute for a complete SEO analysis, however. Think of it as a great little starting point.

Similar but also useful:

Backlink Watch

Domain Backlinks Checker

* Strongest Subpages Tool by WeBuildPages.com

This tool gives you an organized list of the strongest pages on any web site. This will help you figure out where the most amount of inbound links are headed to and going to. Perfect for analyzing the strength of the competition.  Remember, a lot can be gleamed from what your competitors are doing right.

Similar but also useful:

Top Competitor Tool – Webuildpages 

* Backlink Checker by WeBuildPages.com

Don’t have a backlink checker tool? What are you waiting for. Any successful SEO campaign includes one. This is a great, and free, place to start. Get your linking campaigns in order with efficiency and grace. The patented “Neat-O-Tool” is also perfect for analyzing your competitor’s backlinks.

Similar but also useful:

Competition Analysis Tool – Seoscorecard 

Backlink Analyzer – Sitening  

* Firefox with the Web Developer Extension by Chris Pederick

We all know how flexible Firefox is. It can, however, also be used as a great SEO tool when paired with the right add-on. This Web Developer Extension is one such add-on. Want to remove the cascading styles, be they inline or external? It has you covered. Want to modify or remove javascript components? It can do that too. There are few things this handy application can’t do. Also, did we mention it’s free?

Similar but also useful:

Developer ToolBar  

* SEO for Firefox by SEOBook.com

This is the golden goose of browser-based SEO tools. It just gives so much information in one fell swoop that it’s almost unbelievable. Visited page rankings, search engine rankings, compeitive overviews, cache data, domain age, Yahoo backlinks, and a ton of other stats are all available to you in seconds. It’s easy to use and highly functional.You can even export your information directly from the SERPs to CSV. Not bad guys.

Similar but also useful:

SEO Links Extension 

* Google Analytics / Google Webmaster Console by Google.com

Did you really think we’d get out of this list without giving a nod to the big G? Google have wrapped their Orwellian(In a good way!) tentacles over just about every facet of Internet life. SEO tools are no different. Analytics is a great tool that can give you detailed reports on your traffic. It goes miles above similar tools, offering traffic behavior, funnel information, content visitation, length of stay and much more. The Webmaster Console tool pretty much lets you see through Google’s eyes, offering up information like the crawling rate, crawling speed, backlinks, PageRank etc.

Similar but also useful:

Link Popularity – Backlinks Checker – Search Bliss  

Page Rank Tool  

Alexa Traffic 

* Keyword Selector Tool by Overture.com

File this under “oldie but goodie.” This is one of the oldest keyword tools around. Don’t worry. It’s not quite ready for retirement. Keep in mind that most new-fangled keyword tools used this tool as it’s blueprint. And not all of them are free. This one is.

Google’s keyword tool

Keyword Analysis Tool – Mcdar 

* XENU’s Link Sleuth by Tilman Hausherr

XENU is just a great little spider tool. The benefits of having a spider in your SEO toolbox are legion. This tool allows you to find a site’s endless loops, broken links, redirect detections and a whole lot more. XENU is one of the most functional spiders out there, and it’s free to boot. Also, it won’t leave webbing all over your website like it’s real world counterpart.

Similar but also useful:

Spider Simulator – SEO Chat 

Spider View – Iwebtool 

* Xinu BETA by Miguel Camps Orteza

The name might be similar to the previous entry, but these two tools are anything but. This great SEO tool allows you to gather a ton of stats on any site. These include rankings, out-going syndication, social bookmarkings, validation, backlinks and so much more. It analyzes just about every major search engine(In one page) and it’s free!  It’s also open source so tinker away, you shiny diamonds.

Similar but also useful:

Class C Checker – Webmaster Toolkit 

Link Popularity Check – Market Leap  

* Keyword Density & Prominence Tool by Ranks.nl

This simple yet functional tool lets you crawl through a page and analyze the density of keywords. This works not only for the page’s content but also for any and all tags. Really useful and really free.

Similar but also useful:

Keyword Density – SEO Chat 

Keyword Density & Proeminence – Ranks  

* Visual PageRank by iWebTool.com

Do you prefer gleaming information via an image rather than boring old words? Then this is the tool for you. This lets you check out your site’s pagerank through the magic of the visual image. It’s worth 1,000 words, after all.  This tool allows you to physically see your web page and all of the overlays that page rank for each of your links. It’s aesthetically pleasing as well.

Similar but also useful:

Search PageRank – SEO Chat 

Page Rank Tool  

* GeoTargeting Detection Tool by SEOmoz.com

This free tool helps you figure out if your site is optimized for search engines that operate in different countries. As we all know, all engines are not created equal and some will make your site look dirtier than a sinkful of messy dishes. This is great for businesses that service International clients.

Similar but also useful:

Browser Screen Resolution Checker – Markhorrell 

Screen Size Tester – AnyBrowser  

So there you have it. Did we miss anything? Got any favorite SEO tools you think deserve a shout out? Drop us a line and we’ll be more than happy to check it out.

So you’ve found yourself in the position of implementing a form(or forms) on your website or blog. Where do you start? How do you ensure it’s not hacky and hard-on-the-eyes?

Research

This is first and foremost. Get out there and research! This is the fun part. Just fill out lots of forms and take note of what part of the experience you enjoyed and what part was distasteful. Make a list of what works for you and what doesn’t. Pay special attention to websites that traffic in similar content as you do. Try to adhere to your “to do” list when you finally tackle your form.

Look at the examples below. If your website dealt with fitness, for instance, you should have checked out these related forms and figured out what worked and what didn’t.

Keep things clear

Now we get to the good stuff. You have to keep things clear in form-world. What does this mean? Well, the clearer a form is the less mental effort the user will need to extend in order to figure out how to fill it out. You want the end result to be instantly recognizable to the people that surf to your page. Although this seems simple, it can be a bit tricky. Look at the example below.

At first glance this looks fine, but notice the form fails to clarify if the user should consider gross or net income. This ends up hurting the user and the form-maker, as the information ends up useless anyways. Strive for clarity at all times when drafting up a form.

Keep things concise

This important. Nobody has all day to fill out an Internet form. You want to get the information needed in the quickest way possible. Look the “wrong way” example below.

See the problem here? Why not just say “How many children do you have?” and make sure “0″ is an option. Always strive to find a simpler and more direct way to ask something. The human brain processes information quickly and tends to get annoyed when they are still reading something they understand already.

However, do not mistake concise with short. You have to get the information you have to get. Don’t sacrifice information for the sake of shortness. Just figure out a concise way to get it. Don’t use counts of pages, screens or questions as a measure of the quality of a form. It can swing both ways.

Keep it clever

Cleverness is a necessity when it comes to form. Now, let’s something straight. I don’t mean clever “haha.” I simply mean the form is designed in a clever fashion.

This comes in the form of “sequencing.” Simply put, sequencing is is how you direct the user around the form. Ever feel out a form and it allows you to skip questions that don’t apply to you? That sort of smarts is sequencing 101. So much of that can be built in. Nothing is more tiresome than having to fill out a really dumb form. Below is a really dumb form. Look at how it fails to recognize the address as the correct address. It’s stupidity like this that makes people leave your site in a huff.

Keep it co-operative

The best forms work with the form-filler. The cooperation, in this case, is between the form and the form-filler. Remember those notes you took earlier? Now is the time to put them to good use. You were the form-filler in those cases. What made you feel good? What made you want to slam your laptop down in disgust?

Here is what you should be looking for a co-operative form to do.

* Manage expectations

* Provide explicit boundaries and definitions of all fields

* Handle everything with consistency, but remain flexible

* Confirming before submission and allowing modification

* Being free of bugs and viruses

* Take care to not frustrate the user

A great example of an unco-operative form is one that asks for your location, then only gives a limited amount of options.

In the example below, Gmail does their best to remain co-operative and submitting to the “provide definitions of all fields” thing we talked about earlier.

One of the easiest ways to frustrate users is to ask for lots of personal information without  giving any real reason.

What not to do

People make all manner of mistakes when dealing with forms. Here are five things people tend to do that send would-be customers packing. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

* Asking for information that isn’t easily accessible. Keep questions to things that are sure to be memorized.

* Asking for a whole lot of information without spelling out why it’s needed.

* Working against the user, and not with them in regard to inputting data.

* Failing to provide reasoning when a user generates an error message.

* Splitting in forms into too many segments without detailing rhyme or reason.

Finally, here are some resources to have bookmarked whenever you are creating a form.

A List Apart – article on usable forms

Informit – a nice general article about web forms

Sakuzaku – How to manage character limits in free-text fields

Don’t stress out and try to have some fun with it. A successful form can be a great way to gather information. This is the information age, after all.