Internet Explorer Security Issue Warning

Microsoft Corp. has taken the rare step of warning about a serious computer security vulnerability it hasn’t fixed yet.

The vulnerability disclosed Monday affects Internet Explorer users whose computers run the Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 operating software.

It can allow hackers to remotely take control of victims’ machines. The victims don’t need to do anything to get infected except visit a Web site that’s been hacked.

Security experts say criminals have been attacking the vulnerability for nearly a week. Thousands of sites have been hacked to serve up malicious software that exploits the vulnerability. People are drawn to these sites by clicking a link in spam e-mail.

The so-called “zero day” vulnerability disclosed by Microsoft affects a part of its software used to play video. The problem arises from the way the software interacts with Internet Explorer, which opens a hole for hackers to tunnel into.

Microsoft urged vulnerable users to disable the problematic part of its software, which can be done from Microsoft’s Web site, while the company works on a “patch” - or software fix - for the problem.

Microsoft rarely departs from its practice of issuing security updates the second Tuesday of each month. When the Redmond, Wash.-based company does issue security reminders at other times, it’s because the vulnerabilities are very serious.

Read More Here and Find A Fix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972890#FixItForMe

Social Network Identity Theft

Social Network Username Search & Protection

KnowEm checks the availability of your brand name, user name or vanity URL on 120 popular Social Media websites. This service is a neat Reputation Management Tool that all reputation conscious individuals should consider using.

A lot of people and business are at risk of becoming a victim of internet identity theft. This is where someone can pose as you on social networks and other username based websites like forums. Imagine if someone found “you” on MySpace or a similar social network and started chatting with “you” about private details, only to find out it really was not you. There are many risks when it comes to internet ID theft, most of the time the biggest risk is your online reputation. If someone was posing as you on a social network and started saying all types of damaging things on their account, people will think these are your words.

Protecting your online reputation is very important in today’s WWW.

The service that KnowEm offers lets you see who else is using your username on over 100 popular social networks. They also offer to protect your name by registering accounts on these networks for you.

Another great service is the social network search engine optimized profile creation service that iPorfileMaker.com offers. They create full profiles with your custom content. This service is geared toward reputation repair and includes the identity protection as well.

List Of Free Press Release Sites

Free Press Release Sites

Here is a list of Free Press Release sites I have used with good success. A free press release site is great for SEO and Reputation Management. Enjoy the list and if you have any to share please post a comment and let us all know!

24-7PressRelease.com - Free release distribution

1888PressRelease.com - Free distribution, paid services gets you better placement and eternal archiving.

ClickPress.com - Distributes to sites like Google News and Topix.net.

EcommWire.com - Focuses on ecommerce and requires you include an image, 3 keywords and links.

Express-Press-Release.com - Free Distribution Company with (Purportedly) offices in 12 states.

Free-Press-Release.com - Easy press release distribution for free, more features for paid accounts.

Free-Press-Release-Center.info - Distributes your release, offers a web page with one keyword link to your site. Pro upgrade will give you three links, permanent archiving and more.

I-Newswire.com - Allows for free distribution to sites and search engines, premium membership differs only slightly in adding in graphics.

NewswireToday.com - All the usual free distribution tools, premium service includes logo, product picture and more.

PR.com - Not only will they distribute your press releases, but you can also set up a full company profile.

PR9.net - Ad supported press distribution site.

PR-Inside.com - A European-based free press release distribution site.

PRBuzz.com - Completely free distribution to search engines, news sites, and blogs.

PRCompass.com - Distribute your press release with a free or paid version, others can vote it up.

PRUrgent.com - Not only distributes your release, but teaches you how to write one, and even offers downloadable samples for you to work with.

Press-Base.com - Submit your release for free and get on their front page and the category of your choice.

PressAbout.com - A Free blog formatted PR service.

PressMethod.com - Free press release distribution no matter what, but extra services based on the size of your contribution.

PRLeap.com - Free distribution to search engines, newswires, and RSS feeds. Paying will get you better placement.

PRLog.org - Free distribution to Google News and other search engines.

TheOpenPress.com - Gives free distribution for plain formatted releases, fees for HTML-coded releases.

Enjoy the list and if you have any to share or have something to say please post a comment and let us all know!

Search Engine Optimization for Dynamic Websites

One of the major issues which have always raised questions among the search engine optimization fraternity is" Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Dynamic Websites". In this whitepaper, we will show you how to optimize dynamic websites for top search engine rankings. But, first the basics.

What are "Dynamic Websites"?

Dynamic websites are websites whose pages are generated on the fly. Unlike static pages (primarily .htm/.html pages), dynamic pages are generated when an user triggers an action through that particular page. Here is a sample dynamic URL- http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?q=%22dynamic+websites%22&tab=news &go=homepage
As per the above example of www.bbc.co.uk, the dynamic part (i.e. the part) of the URL which changes as per surfer request is the part after the question mark (?)

What are the problems that search engines face in indexing Dynamic URLs?

1. Search engines often consider a dynamic URL as an infinite set of links.

2. Since dynamic URLs find maximum application in online shopping carts, there is a possibility of incorporating a session id to a particular page. As session ids of that particular page change, the search engine spider needs to index an infinite number of copies of the same page, which is a Herculean task for them.

3. Proceeding with the same logic presented in point #2, indexing the same dynamic page might overload the servers of the search engines and therefore prevent the search engines to present with the most relevant information in the fastest possible time.
Here is what Google says about indexing of dynamic websites-
Reasons your site may not be included: Your pages are dynamically generated. We are able to index dynamically generated pages. However, because our web crawler can easily overwhelm and crash sites serving dynamic content, we limit the amount of dynamic pages we index. (Source - http://www.google.com/webmasters/)

What are the options that you have in order to make a search engine spider index your Dynamic URLs?

1. Use of softwares - Exception Digital Enterprise Solutions (http://www.xde.net ) offers a software which can change the dynamic URLs to static ones. Named XQASP, it will remove the "?" in the Query String and replace it with "/", thereby allowing the search engine spiders to index the dynamic content.

Example -
http://www.my-online-store.com/books.asp?id=1190 will change to
http://www.my-online-store.com/books/1190.

The latter being a static URL, it can easily be indexed by the search engine spiders.

2. Use of CGI/Perl scripts - One of the easiest ways to get your dynamic sites indexed by search engines is using CGI/Perl scripts. Path_Info or Script_Name is a variable in a dynamic application that contains the complete URL address (including the query string information). In order to fix this problem, you'll need to write a script that will pull all the information before the query string and set the rest of the information equal to a variable. You can then use this variable in your URL address.

Example - http://www.my-online-store.com/books.asp?id=1190

When you are using CGI/Perl scripts, the query part of the dynamic URL is assigned a variable. So, in the above example "?id=1190" is assigned a variable, say "A". The dynamic URL http://www.my-online-store.com/coolpage.asp?id=1190 will change to http://www.my-online-store.com/books/A through CGI/Perl scripts which can easily be indexed by the search engines.

3. Re-configuring your web servers-

Apache Server - Apache has a rewrite module (mod_rewrite) that enables you to turn URLs containing query strings into URLs that search engines can index. This module however, isn't installed with Apache software by default, so you need to check with your web hosting company for installation.

ColdFusion - You'll need to reconfigure ColdFusion on your server so that the "?" in a query string is replaced with a '/' and pass the value to the URL.

4. Creation of a Static Page linked to an array of dynamic Pages - This approach is very effective, especially if you are the owner of a small online store selling a few products online. Just create a static page linking to all your dynamic pages. Optimize this static page for search engine rankings. Include a link title for all the product categories, place appropriate "alt" tag for the product images along with product description containing highly popular keywords relevant to your business (you can conduct keyword research for your site through http://www.wordtracker.com). Submit this static page along with all the dynamic pages in various search engines, conforming to the search engine submission guidelines.
How Amazon.com, Earth's Biggest Bookstore, coped with the issue of indexing of dynamic URLs?

A search in Google for internet marketing books, yielded a result that takes you directly to the appropriate dynamic page at Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D0395683297/103-0475212-8205437.
Since the above URL does not contain any query strings, all search engines can index Amazon.com's products. Amazon.com uses this method to get its product selections indexed by search engines. This is very important for Amazon, because being an online bookstore, it is very natural for them to adopt dynamic URLs yet it was equally important for them to make their dynamic URLs search engine index friendly.

Conclusion
Even a few years back, most of the major search engines did not index dynamic URLs, thereby often preventing top search engine rankings for the online stores. With Google starting to index dynamic URLs a few months ago, the picture is going to change in the coming days. This is more so because Google's numero uno position is currently being threatened by Microsoft's MSN (developing its own search engine) and Yahoo! who recently acquired Overture, the biggest player in the PPC Search Engine industry.

How to Optimize a dynamic website?

This is very crucial as it helps you to get it indexed by the major search engines available. If like many other people you do not know how to optimize your dynamic website, here is a set of instructions that you can use.

1. Use a URL Rewriting Tool or Software

There’re a lot of URL Rewriting Tools and software that you can get through the internet. They can help you to turn your website’s dynamic URL into Static URL. When you change your dynamic URL to a static one, it will be easily indexed by the search engines.

2. Use the Perl or CGI Scripts

One of the easiest ways to optimize your dynamic website for indexing is to use the Perl/CGI scripts is one of the easiest ways to get your dynamic sites indexed by search engines. These scripts pull up all the information before the actual query string. The scripts then proceed to set the rest of the information in a way that it equals a variable.

3. Manage Web Servers

You have to manage certain web servers that are fit enough to turn the URLs with query strings into those URLs that can be indexed by search engines. There is just one problem this module is not a default application it has to be installed with the help of your web hosting company.

4. Link your dynamic pages with a Static Page

You will have to create a static page that you will have to link up to your dynamic Pages. This will be especially helpful to you if you have a small online store. Initially you will have to create a single static page and link it to all the dynamic pages of your website. After that you will have to just optimize this static page to achieve higher search engine rankings.

Using the above mentioned tips you can easily optimize a dynamic website. This way you will be able to achieve the indexing of your dynamic website on some of the major search engines. Soon your website will successfully be ranked among the topmost search results on these major search engines.