I DO!
And so do you, that’s if you own a site, or a blog or just like statistics like myself

A simple yet powerful idea that 99% of site owners and webmasters forgot about. I mean it’s the time of netbooks, Smart phones and mobile browsing.
Isn’t it important for you to know how people view your sites? Especially if you have a low bounce rate, you may want to visit the Google Browser Size project and see how many of your visitors see exactly what at a first glance at your page. Back in the days (and I assume until now) we used to call it what’s above the fold, that’s why you will see almost every blogger in the world have their “Subscribe to” links or “Email Signup” form on the first half of any page on their blog, this Google tool is powerful in a way that helps you re-design or re-arrange your pages to get maximum benefits from it.
Another service worth the mention in this post is BrowserShot, which is very similar to Google’s Service, but not to compare screens, instead, it compares different browsers, with different resolutions and across platforms (let’s face it, not every one uses windows) :-p

3 Years ago I predicted that Google will create a Google OS (Android is out for mobile devices and netbooks, Google Chrome OS is coming in late 2010).

2 Years ago, I predicted that Facebook will be huge.

A year and a half ago,  I predicted that Twitter will be huge.

A year ago I predicted that FriendFeed will be very big! (Facebook bought it recently for a large 7 figure number).

2 Months ago I was thrilled to hear about (and get a developer account to review it) Google Wave.

Today I heard that Google is opening wave to non-developers users (power users that is) to give it a play ground review.

Today, I also predict that Google Wave will be the new big thing for the next 2 years at least.

Today, I had many friends asking me for a Google Wave invites, to them, I say: Sorry guys, I have zero invites to give, but just wait a week or 2 and you will get your own. Just make sure you have a Google account (and who doesn’t nowadays?!)

What is Google Wave?

In short: Google Wave is an open source server-side software platform for real-time collaboration and communication between any number of individuals. Utilizing the latest HTML 5 standard, Wave runs in any current compliant browser. (Watch the very long video above) (or watch the very short video preview below).

Many of you asked what happened to the Twitter addict I once was. The answer is: Wave, new Wahol, and project ‘W’ took all my time for the last 2 months!

Once you have Wave, send me a “wave” you know my name! Hint: Same as my Twitter name: @GuruOfSales

P.S.: Reason I had Wave as a developer, is that it’s open source, and I am working with a team on an eBay/Paypal app to be used in Wave

Enjoy Google Wave!

For more information on the series #WIWG, please click here.

I have to admit, although I love everything that Gmail have to offer, but personally my Hotmail account is doing just as well and getting better too, so far about 88% of my emails and contacts are on Gmail (Mostly thanks to my G1 Android phone that auto syncs with my Google account and therefore my Gmail account)

Towards the end of May 2009, Gmail did what was inevitable,  aside from every cool new feature from Gmail labs, this one is the coolest, it just made millions of lives much easier

You can now easily migrate existing (email and contacts) from Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, AOL Mail and other webmail providers into Gmail. Imported emails will be appropriately sorted by date, and existing folders will become labels (Another cool feature in Gmail). And you can have your messages forwarded from your old account for 30 days, giving you time to take Gmail for a test drive, and I guarantee you that you will love it, I know that 70+ of my students at Wahol.com moved to and upgraded to Gmail, and I know that every single one of them loved it for all that it has to offer.

BTW this new feature is available in all newly-created Gmail accounts, and it is slowly being rolled out to all existing accounts. You’ll know it’s available in your account when you see the “Accounts and Import”  tab under Settings.

For more and to get a free account go to:

Gmail.com

This is the first article in the ‘While I was Gone‘ series and one of many about the cool Google products and changes.

I’m starting the series with a great product from Google that was launched recently, Google Profiles.

A Google profile is simply how you present yourself on Google products to other Google users. It allows you to control how you appear on Google and tell others a bit more about who you are. With a Google profile, you can easily share your web content on one central location. You can include, for example, links to your blog, online photos, and other profiles such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and more. You have control over what others see. Your profile won’t display any private information unless you’ve explicitly added it.

You can also allow people to find you more easily by enabling your profile to be searched by your name. Simply set your existing profile to show your full name publicly.

Google also allow your profile to become featured on Google.com’s search results, for example, Google my name right now ‘Alex Mohamed’ and you will see the last section of the first page on the results displayibng my Google profile Photo and link to the profile.

Best way to learn  more about Google s from the example below:

In the screen shot above you will find the following from my profile:

1. My photo, name and my job title.

2. send me a message without knowing my email address (Unless you are in my Gmail contacts list), other wise this is great to connect with people minus the spam mail.

3. This section of the profile will link you to every possible profile of mine that is online (at least the ones I remembered ) such as facebook and twitter. This section is great for people that’s as busy online as myself, it also saves me the dozen of links that I used to have on the top right corner of this blog to connect with me outside of this blog and even more (Thanks for the YouTube subscriptions guys).

4. Another section for more about myself, includes a bio, education, jobs, etc.

5. They didn’t forget how cool I am on Flickr, so they link to my most recent photos uploaded to flickr

Also there is a section on the lower side of the page of places that I have been to on a mini Google maps version, that will even show my reviews about the good eats and restaurants that I have visited and reviewed (Nice eh?!)

On my side, I will post the link to my profile on this blog to be as a permanent ‘connect with me’ link so people can find most of my online profiles easier, and I may include it on my twitter account as my URL instead of this blog

Where will you link to your Google profile from?

Post a comment with your Google profile and I will connect with you

Note: 3 Hours of video/audio classes on digsby are available for free on Wahol.com

Ever since I have moved from using Trillian messenger into using digsby, my online life has changed.
To make it simple: Digsby is a universal IM and email application, in other words, you can use your existing IM account (Yahoo IM, AOL’s AIM, Google talk, MSN/Live, ICQ, Jabber or even facebook chat) and use it all within one easy (And light waight) window, and here is the best part: You can use multible accounts from the same providor at the same time. For example: You have 2 Yahoo accounts, one for personal use and one for your business, you can use both accounts at the same time and be logged into both instead of logging off one account to log in to the new one.

You can even open multible chats within one chat window, kinda like tab browsing in Firefox. Cool!

Another cool feature is that it will allow you to combine multible buddies if one person have more than one account (For example: one account on Yahoo IM and a Google talk account) you can combine them both to appear as one.

Not satisfied!

There are 2 more great features:

1. You get email notifications from your Gmail, MSN/Hotmail/Live, Yahoo mail, AOL email, IMAP and pop accounts. And you can reply directly from digsby!

2. (And that’s my favorite featuere) Social networking: Stay connected without having to go to your browser on facebook, myspace, twitter or linkedIn.

Digsby will keep you updated with your friends new status on facebook, or your naighbor’s mood change on myspace or your replies on twitter, and of course you can update your twitter status from digsby or @ reply to someone, or directly open your friends wall page on facebook.

Oh, besides the fact that I appear online on facebook almost 24/7 (when I am actually only on digsby), Digsby is truly universal, you will create one account on digsby during your first install, then if you travel or change computers, all you have to do is to sign in your digsby account and all the rest of your accounts that’s stored from before will load and log in automaticaly.

There are many other feature that you can find here. Or you can Join Wahol.com for free and learn even more by video and audio.

Digsby developers are always updating the software with new features, I have personally requested to add an RSS reader feature through their feedback requests, I also requested to have it as an Android mobile app so I can use it on my phone, there is also digsby for facebook application that is already published and ready for you to download in your facebook account.

If you’re not following me on Twitter yet, do so by going here.
And if you are not an RSS subscriber yet, do so by going here.
Technorati Tags: digsby, yahoo, google, gmail, aol, chat, tools

This is a guest post by: Rick Jones
Rik Jones is a self-described Technology Evangelist who’s writings can be experienced on his blog at www.surching4me.com

This post explain (in-depth) the idea by Google Health (Read more here) and how it will help you to stay in the know of your health conditions.

During the recent U.S. Presidential Race there were several recurring issues that were hot topics on the plate of every candidate. At the forefront was the issue of health care in the United States. Debates raged around the issues of privatization over national health care, insurance and pharmaceutical costs to an already struggling system.

There are some however, who are not waiting for politics to provide the solutions. This group is looking to reduce the costs of health care one challenge at a time. More importantly by providing all of us the methods to take back our health from an industry that seems in complete disarray. In this arena anything is possible.

One of the key elements highlighted in the incoming President, Barack Obama’s health care plan is to focus on modernizing the U.S. Health Care System to lower costs & improve quality of care. The idea is simple; Health information technology investment aimed at reducing unnecessary spending that results from preventable errors and inefficient paper billing systems. In his administration’s plan, they are predicting that this will contribute in cutting the typical family’s heal care costs by $2,500 (US).
This term “modernization of health care” is not solely part of his heath care policy, but also it is documented in his Administration’s Technology policy paper. This is exciting news for the Technologist. One area of focus is that of migrating the management of medical information from a paper-based process model to that of an electrical one. This could prove to be a boom in many areas of Technology and as with any surge in a new technology field, getting in early is key.

Historically, pharmacies have been the public’s exposure to controlling their medical services. In reality, this was nothing more than acting as a messenger for the physician by delivering a paper prescription to a pharmacy then picking up their prescription. The evolution commenced with the expansion of pharmacy services as more and more traditionally retail stores opened their own pharmacies. Now these traditional pharmacies are fighting back by going electronic. First by establishing networks across their pharmacies providing a convenience of picking up prescriptions from any one of their stores.

CVS has recently raised the bar and positioned themselves inline with the incoming Administration’s goal of moving towards the electronic management of medical information.

CVS now allows the patient to manage their prescriptions on-line to include access to historical prescriptions which could be made readily accessible for the patient to provide to their physicians. On top of this, additional services have been made available to include information for the patient on Diet & Nutrition, basic Medical information and the ability to look up medication in their Drug Information Center.

If you haven’t noticed by now a trend is emerging. A trend that started with the likes of WebMD.
Actually treating individuals with respect and providing information to them to allow each person to take responsibility for their own Health Care. CVS and others are now taking this from the simple WebMD Informational approach to that of actual practical usage. At the end of the day in any instance it all revolves around the management of Health Care data.

What might appear to be an interesting retail battle shaping up for your personal health care management needs might actually be nothing more than a marketing exercise for a much larger player. One that has years of experience in the management of information and data. That 800 pound gorilla in the room also known as Google.

Currently

Google is also reaching out, looking for partners to assist in developing the means for individuals to access not simply prescription information but all medical records for management in one location. Giving the individual a power that continues to elude the medical industry to this day.

Naturally, the two most protective areas of anyone’s life are: finances and medical information. Google Health is an undertaking that would have never made it this far without an extensive set of policies designed to address the protection of this sensitive information. It is far too extensive to go through here so if you are interested in understanding how your information will be protected you can review Google Health’s Privacy and Policy page.

But wait…. There’s more!

It is one thing to have all of your medical information conveniently located in one place. But another to actually do something with that data. Information is only truly as valuable as the functions you can perform with it. This is where it begins to get “Fun.” Through APIs and security Google offers the opportunity for 3rd party services to interact with your profile information. As a test and for example, I created a profile with the fitness site LIVESTRONG.COM. From this site I can manage meals, workouts and track almost anything I choose on a daily basis in the day-to-day active lifestyle I am attempting to develop. At the same time they also offer a convenient iPhone application which I can use to track meals when out and about, not to mention actual workout information in real-time. Yes, more information relating to my personal health.

It is at this point where you gain the benefit through linking the information in LIVESTRONG with that of Google Health to again give you a centralized set of data to provide you with more control of your own health.

At the end of the day, that is what it is all about. Taking back control of our lives. For far too long we have all relied on the medical industry to tell us what we should do, what medication we need to take (despite the rumored kick-backs some physicians get for pimping products.) More importantly, we as responsible individuals need to become more informed on general health issues so that we may be able to focus on preventative medicine rather than become victims of an expensive health care system that appears more focused on operating as a business than as providers of a valuable service to humanity.

It is refreshing to know that this issue is
finally getting the attention it deserves and my hopes are that the efforts of CVS and Google spawn a new era in a healthier society.

For more on Google Health, read more here.
Technorati Tags: google, health, medical, history, web 2.0, tools

Still under beta at the time of writing this article, coming from Google Labs, a new approach by Google to help the public with their medical history. The way I think about it is that this new tool will help you take back control of your life.

How?
By providing more than just medical history management tool for you.

You will get many options as soon as you sign in with your Google account (with a very strict privacy policy):

1. Store and manage all your health information in one place. And it’s completely free.

2. Start tracking a medical history and learn about your conditions.

3. You can import your medical records.

4. View your history.

5. Find out how medications might interact (Which is very useful) as Google Health will automatically check any interactions may happen between your drugs, allergies and stored conditions. Then provide you with tips, all in one place.

6. Make your health information work for you.

Refill prescriptions online, ask for a second opinion, or get personalized health information based on your profile.

7. Search for doctors and hospitals. integration with Google Maps and info is seamless from within Google Health (My personal favorite option in this tool).

You can sign up (Or sign in) for a Google Health account by going to the Google Health Homepage.

Technorati Tags: google, health, web 2.0, tools, medical, history

Another great post I read last night from Darren Rowse at ProBlogger about SEO Plugins every WordPress Blog should have!
The article (Which I found very useful) came out in perfect timing with Google’s announcement of their own release of a document about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) that you can download for free here!
The document (Which I found not useful at all) is an SEO integration into your website, I think it’s just some basic info that’s available all over the web and all Google did was to put it in one place with “Google” on top of it
However, for beginners, I think the guide is useful and it will help putting your site out there not only on Google but also on Yahoo, Live, ask, and AOL searches.
One comment I read about it said that Google may be trying to put SEOs out of business, I don’t think that’s true at all, there is a lot more into the art of SEO than the extremely basic info on the 22 pages they offer.
Though I think there is a much higher amount of info (created by the people) on the Google Webmaster Help Group.
Going back to Darren’s post, I do have 4 of the plugins mentioned that I have been using on this blog since the begining and I think that they have done well for this blog’s rankings.

It is as simple as it sounds, with Google friend connect you will be able to insert little gadgets that will turn your blog or site into a mini Facebook or a Myspace!
Still in beta, but has a lot of social gadgets, Google’s Friend Connect is the result of a greater project that Google started a while back called OpenSocial.
Without the geek talk, a very good example will be Facebook. Think of your Facebook’s profile as your own blog or site and the facebook add-on applications is (instead) your Google Friend Connect gadget.
You choose your social gadget, copy the code then paste it into blog or website and your done, now your blog’s readers can sign from within Google Friend Connect and interact just like any social network.

Now your site is more social than ever, your visitors can sign into Friend Connect using their Google ID, Yahoo ID, Twitter ID, or their OpenID. Pretty easy and slick is the feeling they will get.

Still worried about the coding and geek stuff? Worry no more, at Wahol.com there will be an entire video class (Still for free) about Friend connect as part Wahol’s setting up your Online life section. (Sign up at Wahol.com)

Or maybe the following image will explain:

Adding Friend connect to your self hosted WordPress blog could make your blog as powerful as Facebook in terms of interacting social readers. (A video on Wahol will also go though how to add it to your blog)

You can visit Google Friend Connect here!

Don’t forget to get the RSS and follow me on Twitter.
Any questions about Friend connect? Ask in the comments below and I will answer

Although it’s still say that it’s in beta, but Google Ad Manager has been open for public use for a while now.

I have been invited (secretly) to use the service a while back and I found it extremely useful.

Basically the service aims to help web site publishers and blog owners to integrate ads into their pages, whether it’s Google’s AdSense, other ad networks, or even your own in house ads.

Here is what they offer (From their site):

Inventory management

• Inventory levels: Define inventory at granular levels for more efficient line item creation and trafficking. Use ad slots to generate Ad Manager tags for your pages, ad placements to group related ad slots, and ad products to bundle and sell inventory packages with the same cost and targeting criteria.
• Inventory availability tracking: Easily confirm whether ad impressions are available for specific dates, placements, and targeting criteria. Avoid overbooking and underselling.
• Simple ad tag generation and management: Copy and paste tags directly into your HTML. Avoid the need to re-tag your site when you change the way you sell your inventory. (Available upon request: iframe tags.)

Yield optimization

• Optional AdSense Integration: Use AdSense to fill unsold inventory or compete on price against other ad networks.

Ad targeting

• Built-in targeting options: Target ads to your site visitors’ geography, day and time, bandwidth, browser, browser language, operating system, and domain.
• Customizable targeting criteria: Target ad impressions by passing your own custom key-value pairs to Ad Manager.

Trafficking, ad delivery, and order booking

• Delivery options: Choose one of five delivery types (exclusive, premium, standard, remnant, or house) to determine, automatically, how ads may be delivered.
• Frequency capping: Set multiple levels of frequency capping, which limit the number of ads the same visitor sees over a minute, hour, day, week, month, or lifetime.
• Roadblocking: Deliver multiple creatives together on the same page. (Available upon request.)
• Proven Google infrastructure: Enjoy fast, reliable ad delivery and load time.
• Support for various ad pricing models: Choose from cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM), cost-per-click (CPC), and cost-per-day (CPD).
• AdSense integration (optional):Consistently deliver the highest-paying ad by enabling AdSense.
• Ad network management: Easily manage your third-party ad networks with network orders.

Creatives and rich media management

• Rich media support: Use tags from a variety of rich media providers. Automatically detect macros.
• Free ad creatives hosting: Save bandwidth and costs.
• Redirect creatives support: Easily track ads from a third-party network, affiliate provider, or other URL you provide.

Reporting

• Multiple reporting options: Run reports on order delivery, inventory performance, or overall sales.
• Detailed reporting: Break down reports by date, line item, placement, advertiser, and other categories.
• Fast report generation: Create reports in seconds.
• Interactive views: Sort data, add or remove columns, review different data subsets, and make other edits without having to leave the page or run a new report.
• Media Rating Council (MRC) accredited: Feel confident in Google Ad Manager’s ad impression measurement process, accredited by the Media Rating Council to be fully compliant with Interactive Advertising Bureau standards.

User interface

• Search functionality: Locate order, inventory, or advertiser data from any page in Ad Manager.
• Intuitive work flows: Quickly and easily create orders, approve orders, and review status of orders. Decrease training time and trafficking steps.
• AdSense channels integration: Import your existing AdSense channels into Ad Manager (optional).
• Browser session support: Use your browser’s ‘Back’ button and other built-in navigation without losing data.

Administration

• Access controls: Set various viewing and editing permissions for your team.
• Contacts organization: Store and manage advertiser and agency company information.
• International language and currency support: Use Google Ad Manager in your native language and currency.

And a great 5 slides demo explains it easier is available here.

As of January first we are re-opening our advertising opportunities here at Guru Of Sales and we will be using Google’s Ad Manager