Forrest Gump Directory Wisdom

You just have to love the movie Forrest Gump.  Well at least I do so I thought I would delve into what I know to be the truth behind what Forrest was trying to say.

Sure he built an empire of shrimp, ran for 3 years, 2 months, 14 days and 16 hours, won the Congressional Medal of Honor and became the world champion of ping pong, but in his free time Forrest Gump imparted his wisdom to all of us.

What?  You didn’t hear it.  Well maybe you just were not listening.  Here is what Forrest really meant.

“My name’s Forrest Gump. People call me Forrest Gump.”

Forrest sent this out as a warning.  It is not a good sign if the name of the directory is ijustboughtthisdroppeddomain.com. 

“Stupid is as stupid does.”

This was Forrest’s reply when asked why someone might purchase or submit to a directory with a name like ijustboughtthisdroppeddomain.com.

“When I got tired, I slept.  When I got hungry, I ate.  When I had to find a quality website, you know, I went to a directory.”

Forrest had it going on.  Go Forrest!

“And cause I was a gazillionaire, and I liked doin it so much, I cut that grass for free.”

Sure Forrest was a gazillionaire.  Most directory owners are not which is why most quality directories have a review fee.

“Momma says they was magic shoes.  They could take me anywhere.”

Forrest said not to be scared of third parties determined to hold you back.  Dream of a spam free directory of quality resources.  Put on those magic shoes and run like the wind.

“Momma always had a way of explaining things so I could understand them.”

Forrest’s Momma taught him:

Quality Directory Listings (equals) Human Reviewed Websites (equals) Spam Free Resources

Forrest loved his Momma.

“I’m not a smart man…  but I know what love is.”

Forrest said this when he first browsed through the Authority Directory. 

“You know it’s funny what a young man recollects? ‘Cause I don’t remember bein’ born. I don’t recall what I got for my first Christmas and I don’t know when I went on my first outdoor picnic. But I do remember the first time I browsed through a quality directory.”

Forrest remembered the truly important things in life.

“Yo-You’re still Lieutenant Dan.”

Even after the latest page rank update he still recognized his friends.

“My Momma always said, “Search engines are like a box of chocolates.  You never know what you’re gonna get.”

Forrest really gave us a lot to think about. 

Be Aware if you Pay at the Pump!

When I saw this recent article it just drove home the need for all of us to be careful when we pay at the pump because we can get ripped off there and not even know it until we get our statement.

What it boils down to is that we all need to make sure that we press the clear button after we finish pumping the gas and take our receipt.  Your credit card information stays in the pump until either the clear button is pressed or the next credit card is entered.

This creates a window of opportunity for a dishonest person to purchase their gas using your credit card.

So make sure that you are careful and always press the CLEAR button to clear out your transaction when you are finished pumping your gas. 

Remove the receipt and press clear every time!

Wordpress 2.6 is Here

That is right!  The stable version of Wordpress 2.6 has arrived and AD is already upgraded.  You can download the new version and upgrade in no time.  I got it downloaded and installed in minutes and if I can do it so can you.

So what does the new version have?  I am glad you asked.  Here are just a couple highlites followed up with a video.  Check them out and let me know what you think of the new version.

Easy plug in management with bubble notification and re-organize your gallery with drag and drop.  It also includes word count, image captions, upload media in full screen mode, full SSL support in the core, security enhancements and fixes for 194 bugs.

The list of upgrades are extensive so I suggest checking out the video below.

Enhancements at The Authority Directory

We are constantly looking for ways to improve the Authority Directory by working with coders, script providers and innovators.  We work very hard to offer added value to those who visit and submit to the directory.  So we thought we would make a little post on some of the enhancements that have been made over the last couple months. 

Some of the Directory Enhancements

• In the interest of being able to say we have valid CSS and HTML code I had a coder go through and validate the code on the directory and blog.  They are both CSS and HTML valid now.
• We also had  a mod created which brings in random picture from the gallery to post it on category pages which enhances the look. 
• We further modified and improved the SEO urls in the directory which should bring even more SEO benefits to the listings.
  • Example
    • Old url - http://www.authoritydirectory.com/Real-Estate/Agents-United-States/Colorado/Denver-Colorado-Real-Estate-1316.html
    • New url - http://www.authoritydirectory.com/denver-colorado-real-estate.html
  • The new listing is much more compact and closer to the primary index page bringing additional benefits to the listed site.
• We now allow non profits and charities to submit for free.
• Several reasons caused us to modify the latest links and top hits pages to point the urls there internal to the details pages. 
• Oh and there are still no empty categories.

Some of the Blog Enhancements

•  The blog is now CSS and HTML valid.
• We added an easy way to subscribe to the blog and we invite you to do so.  
• We added a couple new blog categories to open up new posting topics and create additional interest.
• There are many new and interesting blog posts including one about a whitewater river rafting trip we took.
• There are now some banner spaces available in the blog.  Click to see the advertising options.

Some of the Gallery Enhancements 

• We added a new category for wallpapers.
• Several hundred additional images have also been added.

Additional Items of Note

• As always our content continues to grow.
  • At least one unique article is added daily to a directory category. 
    • As of today we have around 240 active unique articles.
  • As of today there are nearly 4000 active listings and no empty categories.
  • The blog averages 2 new posts per week and currently has over 60 active posts.
• We have affiliate programs.
• You can also subscribe to the latest articles we post. 

We do not represent that this list is all inclusive of everything done over the past couple months.  The point is that we continue to improve, we continue to add unique content, we continue to seek out quality websites and add those resources for our visitors.   It is something we have done since we opened and will continue with going forward.

The RedZee Search Engine

RedZee.com came to be in 2002 and since then has gained an online presence.  Its Alexa ranking is respectable and its logo is top notch.  The perky red zebra is something that stayed with me long after I left the site. 

RedZee first came to my attention a short time ago when I received a call from their marketing branch.  Yes another telemarketing call but I will say the person on the other end of the line was professional and knowledgeable.  I had a couple minutes so he took me through a demo of the site.  

My first impression was positive as I love the landing page design and the mascot.  

The search results are returned in a very visually appealing way with thumbnails that scroll across your screen which you control with your cursor.  The nice thing about the thumbnails is they give you a glimpse of the site before you go there which can help save you time in finding the right website.  This may cause load time problems for surfers that do not have a high speed connection. 

Another feature of the site is something that parents will love.  Go to Red Zee and just try to search for porn.  I dare you.  Red Zee has filters in place to ban searches that are not “family friendly” and will not return any results.  Try that same search on Google and you will get in the neighborhood of 237 million results (which is the reason for no linky-linky to it here). 

Now everyone will have their own view of those filters.  Some may cry censorship and others may think it is long overdue.  Those of us with children who are surfing the internet like mine usually fall into that second category. 

There is a thing or two that I don’t necessarily like about the search engine.  It stems from the reason they called me.  They wanted to sell me placement in search results. 

For a fee I could be in the top three websites returned for a given search term.  To me this means the search results are not so much a reflection of the merit of the site as a reflection of the thickness of the site owner’s wallet.  To me this really diminishes the value and relevance of the search results displayed to those using the RedZee. 

Another disturbing thing about those top three results is that they are in no way identified as sponsored links.  So while a searcher perceives the top results reflect relevancy to the search term, they usually reflect something else which calls into question the credibility of the results. 

This is just intended to briefly bring RedZee to your attention.  Overall I would say that it is worth paying a visit to RedZee and just form your own impressions about it.  If you have children you may want to stear them away from other search engines and over to RedZee because of the family friendly content filters.

Personally I will not be consistently using it for search because of the way they display the top three sponsored results, but my daughter is a whole other story…

The Most Important Minutes of your Interview

It is a very common saying that first impressions need to be the very best impressions.   This is especially so when it comes to career interviews.

Most managers involved in hiring will tell you that they can tell from the first handshake and a little small talk whether they have an interest in hiring the candidate.  It takes hiring managers only about 10 minutes to form either a positive or negative opinion of that job seeker. 

This should tell you something about the approach you need to take for a job interview. 

It really means that the moment you arrive the interview is on.  You need to project confidence and enthusiasm right away.  You should pay particular attention to preparing for the first few questions to be asked. 

Be ready with your responses when they come to these topics. 

• They will ask you why you are here.
• They will also ask what you can do for the company and them.
• They will want to know how you will fit with the company values and culture.
• Perhaps most importantly they will want to know why they should pick you over the other prospects interviewed. 

Have examples and rehearse your responses for times when you have had to lead a team, overcome an obstacle, save a failed project or meet a deadline. 

Be familiar with the A to Z of Interview Skills.

Some of the initial topics that come up early in an interview are:

• Can you tell us a little about yourself? In other words, what can you do for us?
• What is your perception of us?
• What brings you here today?
• Tell us about your most important accomplishment up to this point.
• Why do you want to make a change in careers?
• What is it that would make us choose you over the other applicants. 

You need to know about the company you are interviewing with. 

Do the research required to get familiar with the company, their culture and offerings prior to the interview.  By knowing this you can project an image which will complement and offer value in achieving their goals. 

This is how you can use that knowledge during the first couple minutes of your interview.  Show them you know something of their company when you get the question - why are you here?  Use your knowledge of the company to enthusiastically list off some of the things about the company that appeal to you. 

You need to know who you are when the interview begins.  You are not a person looking for a job, but a problem solver who can help them achieve their goals.  After all you know about the company so can display enthusiasm about what appeals to you.  Plus you are prepared for the initial volley of questions which you can respond to with confidence.

The Top June Droppers from Entrecard

I wanted to make sure that I took some time to recognize and thank the following top ten sites who have visited the Authority Directory Blog from Entrecard in June 2008.

There are a couple blogs from directories in the top ten this month which is nice to see.  Those being Squeaky’s and Lobo Links who are both well respected in the directory community.  Anyone seeking quality directories to submit your websites and blogs to should take some time to visit them.

I visit these sites often and encourage you to do the same so you can also experience what they have to offer.

1. Squeaky’s Madmouse Blog
2. Chip Flip Jump
3. The Success
4. Michael Aulia’s Tech Blog
5. Clickdtalk
6. Photography by KML
7. Lobo Links
8. So Now What?
9. Health Nut Wannabee Mom
10. EzGreatLife 

How to Check for Fake Page Rank

This post will just be a quick tutorial on how to detect fake page rank.  It is a question that is frequently asked which receives a variety of answers. 

The reason it is so important to be able to check this is time and time again you see people who don’t know this simple trick being taken advantage of when they purchase websites based upon fake page rank.

So the first thing that you need to do is go open a browser to Google.  The first thing you need to type into the search window is info followed directly by a colon.  Immidiately following the colon by typing in the domain name that you want to check.  So the entire query should look like:

info:www.thedomain.com

While substituting the domain you want to check into the query.  Lets check the Authority Directory just as an example.

info:www.authoritydirectory.com  <— Go ahead and click.

In the last line of the search results it tells you the domain returned just prior to the link to - Note this.

In our case that domain returned matches the domain which was queried meaning the page rank is valid.  We searched for the domain www.authoritydirectory.com and www.authoritydirectory.com was returned.

Now for an example of one that is not valid so we will do the following search info:www.tigsd.com. 

Notice in this example how the domain returned in the search does NOT match the domain we searched for?  This domain does not have valid page rank since what we searched for was www.tigsd.com and what was returned was www.tig.com <— different domain.  

That is really all there is to conducting the test, but there is one additional thing you should know. 

Google will generally do a backlink export for results a couple weeks prior to every page rank update.  During the window between that that export and prior to the Google toolbar update of page rank it would be possible for invalid page rank to appear as valid.

So anytime there is a suspected page rank update expected from Google be careful with using this method to check and see if a domain has valid page rank.

A special thanks to Rob at Directory Mix for his input in this post.

Criss Angel and the Pull Apart Girl

All right faithful readers this one is not for the faint of heart.  You should only watch this if you’re ready to see something very strange indeed. 

I really like watching Criss Angel and a friend of mine recently pointed out this video.  When I saw it all I could really think was oh my god, they killed her! 

Just like anyone else, when I see things like this the first thing I wonder is how did he do that.  Even when knowing would spoil the whole effect on me. 

I was once involved in a trick with David Copperfield that you can read a little more about in this article, but this video is just unreal.  I have watched it over and over again and just cannot figure out the trick. 

          

The Mind Freak just completely freaked me out on this one.

The Smart Car

With gas prices hovering around $4 per gallon here I was naturally curious when I saw a tiny car driving down the street a few days ago.  It looks like the car you see Inspector Clouseau (played by Steve Martin) driving around in the 2006 film version of the Pink Panther. 

So today I have been doing a little research on the car and found that amazingly enough that this little car achieved the highest ratings from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety.

That led me to do some additional searching where I found this amazing video of a crash test with the car.  See what happens when the Smart Car hits a concrete barrier at 70 MPH.

           

That is just amazing footage and by the way, these Smart Cars are supposed to get around 40 MPG.