PatentMarvel.com - PDF Patent Copies
New PDF Patent Downloader — PatentMarvel.com.
Added it to my Guide to Downloading Patent Copies (PDF).
Web Page Tip of the Day — Theme Linkbacks
There are thousands of “themes” that web site owners (particularly bloggers) can use to easily make their website look more professional. The individuals that create these “free” themes typically do so with the caveat that if you use their theme you should maintain the embedded link back to their website.
Why? To increase their search engine rankings.
Recently, I was looking over my own blog’s theme’s code and noticed a suspicious URL (belonging to the theme designer). That link took me to a page containing content I found objectionable. Not cool.
Needless to say, I’ve been diligently working over the past few days to move to a new theme (which I did earlier this evening — http://inventblog.com).
So…if you are going to use a “free” theme, check the designer’s links FIRST and consider checking them over time (in case the designer’s “content” changes).
Web Page Tip of the Day — Reserve Your Name (and Encourage Your Clients to do the Same)
Like with domain names, once a desired username is gone…it is gone*. Thus, you should seriously consider registering your personal (or preferred) name on the most popular social media sites (just in case you decide in a few months/years to start using the site).
You should also consider encouraging your clients to register the usernames consisting of their trademarks. You can even plug in their brand names into the handy search engine at UserNameCheck.com and see whether nor not third parties have already registered them.
As a big fan of Twitter, I’d suggest starting there…
*Note: most sites have provisions for trademark owners and celebrities to obtain their own names/marks back. For instance, Twitter’s terms of service states that “We reserve the right to reclaim usernames on behalf of businesses or individuals that hold legal claim or trademark on those usernames.”
Web Page Tip of the Day — Does your design suck?
Check out ”Web Pages That Suck,” a website that provides a blunt (but spot-on) analysis of how NOT to design websites. Incredibly funny, too.
The site also has a checklist called “Does My Site Suck?” that helps you self assess your own website’s design.
[This tip was sent to me by Minnesota patent attorney Kevin S. Brady.]
Web Site Tip of the Day — Get Listed on Google Local
Can your potential customers find you on Google Maps? If you haven’t created a listing for your office in Google’s Local Business Center…they may not be able to.
The solution is to
Use the Local Business Center to create your free listing. When potential customers search Maps for local information, they’ll find your business: your address, hours of operation, even coupons to print out and bring to your shop. It’s easy, free, and you don’t need a website of your own.
From: Google Local Business Center home page.
While you’re at it…does every one of your web site’s pages have your address on it? Maybe you should…
New blog I stumbled upon — IP’s What’s Up
Ip’s What’s Up – ”intellectual property news and commentary. a place to engage in conversation and reflect on happenings in the world of IP. (updated wednesdays and sundays).”
Web Page Tip of the Day — Don’t Share Your “Google Juice”
This tip is mainly for those of you whom use Twitter and other social networking websites.
I won’t bore you with a detailed explanation, but one of the ways that Google (et al.) ranks pages is based upon what websites link to it. Inbound links are good. See Google Webmaster Tools.
When using Twitter, it is a popular practice to use an URL shortener like tinyurl.com or is.gd to make hyperlinks shorter (to stay within the 140 character message limit). Example:
The problem is that every time you use a URL shortener to link to your own website…that link (on twitter.com which is visible to Google) gives “Google Juice” credit to the URL shortener (e.g., is.gd) and not to YOUR WEBSITE. Bad move.
I mentioned this to Matt Buchanan recently and he suggested I look at Get-Shorty, a script you can install on your website to serve up short URLs. I installed it this evening. Now, I can turn http://inventblog.com/2008/12/tip-regarding-websites-seo-grade.html into http://inventblog.com/shorty/44631/.
[note, I installed Get-Shorty in a folder named "shorty" which appears to be the "/shorty/" you see in the url. If I had to do it over again (or if I try to modify my installation), I would name that folder "a" instead, thereby chopping another 5 characters off the url.]
Sure, it isn’t as short as an is.gd url…but it’s a start.
[update: make sure you read the comments...there is a chance that I only partially know what I'm talking about. ;-)]
Web Page Tip of the Day — What is Your Website’s Search Engine Optimization Grade?
In today’s tip, plug your website’s URL into http://website.grader.com and have it determine your score. They will also give you a report that spells out any obvious issues with your website that makes it score lowly.
The score for this blog: 97/100.
As my good friend here in Boise (SEO guru) George Seybold reminds me…SEO scores are VERY important for how you rank in a Google search. The good news is that low scores can be fixed, quite easily if you use someone like George (might I add).
Patents on Electronic Games
Very cool article on patents on electronic games (e.g., Simon, Atari 2600). See: Patentmania: The Golden Age of Electronic Games | Technologizer.
[Via Gizmodo]
Web Page Tip of the Day — Upgrade Your 404 Page
A “404″ page is the page a visitor to your website/blog sees if they try to visit a page that does not exist. For instance: http://inventblog.com/ 1234234213.
Most websites have a boring 404 page that merely says “page not found, sorry.” Sadly, that rarely helps your visitor find what they were looking for.
Why not do what Google recommends and “Make your 404 pages more useful” by installing a simple script on your 404 page that includes a Google search widget, a widget helps your visitors find what it was they were looking for? It’s too simple to not do.