I intended to write a quick pop on part four of Google’s Links Week series on its Official Google Webmaster Blog yesterday, but I got caught up doing real work for a client and forgot to circle back.

In part four, the Big G covers inbound links–links to your site from external sites. Why do inbound links matter? Relevant links are a key factor in the way Google ranks sites and can kick up your PageRank.

Here’s the quick and dirty from Google’s blog on inbound link building:

• Start a blog, make videos, do original research, and post interesting stuff on a regular basis. If you’re passionate about your site’s topic, there are lots of great avenues to engage more users.
• Teach readers new things, uncover new news, be entertaining or insightful, show your expertise, interview different personalities in your industry and highlight their interesting side. Make your site worthwhile.
• Participate thoughtfully in blogs and user reviews related to your topic of interest. Offer your knowledgeable perspective to the community.
• Provide a useful product or service. If visitors to your site get value from what you provide, they’re more likely to link to you.

I‘ve written before about Google Trends, a free service that enables you to track the popular of search terms, but here’s a new wrinkle:

According to Michael Arrington at TechCrunch, mainstream media and bloggers are increasingly using Google Trends to find hot terms and then write stories based on them.

The goal, he says, is not to find popular fodder to write about but to get more hits from Google. Here’s how it works, he says:

Blogs and mainstream media sites are indexed by Google very frequently. Many times per day, in fact. And those sites often have great Page Rank already. Combine that regular indexing and Page Rank with Google’s recent policy of ranking news type results higher than older, evergreen stuff, and you have a system ripe for abuse.

Let’s say I run a popular political or celebrity gossip site (two topics that pop up a lot on Google Trends). I look for hot queries that people are typing in right now, for whatever reason. Then I write a blog post, making sure to use the query term in the title of the post (which weights heavier for matching content to specific queries). The content of the article itself is mostly irrelevant, as long as your normal readers don’t gag on it.

Within a few minutes that content is indexed by Google, and the high Page Rank of the site along with the newness of the content pushes it up towards to top of the first page of results. Possibly all the way to the top.

We’re not talking about a trivial amount of traffic, either. One person I spoke with about this yesterday said he can get up to 30,000 extra unique visitors per day just by focusing content on top queries, which is more than enough to dedicate a couple of full time people to the effort.

So I decided to try it, for the sake of research, and all. According to Google Trends, the top five hot words of the day–at least at 1150 EST are:

Now I’m going to sit back and watch what happens. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Yahoo is rolling out today a beta of Yahoo! Web Analytics, based on technology acquired from the IndexTools buy in May. Yahoo! Web Analytics gives users “custom real-time reports and graphs that help them slice and dice metrics like sales, page views, and sources of traffic and ultimately identify ways to amp up their visitor satisfaction,” according to the Yodel Anecdotal blog.

The FAQ explains what the new metrics machine is all about.

Like most people, I need to practice more and preach less. For example, making sure I’ve done all I can with my internal, external and inbound links. It’s hard for me to find the time among posting here, my real job and visiting my rich aunt at the nursing home.

Google reminded me yesterday that I should pay more attention to my links. The Big G is running this week on its Official Goggle Webmaster Central Blog a four-part discussion  about linking best practices.

There’s not much to part one (Monday) other than their saying, “Hey, it’s links week.” Part 2 (Tuesday) covers internal links. Part three (Wednesday) covers external links, Part four (Thursday) will cover inbound links.

It’s pretty obvious that the judicious use of internal, external and inbound links builds traffic and feeds the GoogleBot when it comes crawling. If you already have a site, think of Google’s four-parter as a refresher course. If you’re new to the game, you’ll find it helpful–even the common sense parts.

Here’s a quick summary of Google Webmaster Central’s post yesterday about internal links…

1. Keep important pages within a few clicks from the homepage: Make sure your important pages are clickable from the homepage and easy for GoogleBot to find.
2. Use descriptive anchor text: Writing clear and meaningful anchor text helps search engines and users to better understand your content.
3. Verify GoogleBot finds your internal links: Use the Pages with internal links feature provided by Google at Webmaster Tools to verify GoogleBot finds most of your links.

…and here’s a quick summary of Google Webmaster Central’s post today about linking out:

1. Make sure outbound links are relevant: Provide readers with in-depth and relevant information and offer them a unique perspective about that information.
   
2. Use thoughtful outbound links to boost your credibility: Do your research, show off your expertise and build relationships with other experts.
3. Monitor your outbound links: User-generated links and undisclosed paid advertising links can harm your credibility if you’re not vigilant.

If the major mortgage lenders, home buyers and Wall Street had heard of PLAIN, and had gotten rid of the fine print and mishigas in their contracts, we might not be in the economic mess we find ourselves. PLAIN is short for Plain Language Action and Information Network.

A number of federal government agencies formed PLAIN almost 15 years ago with the aim of promoting the use of plain language for government communications. The big idea was that by using plain language, federal agencies would save time and money and provide better service to the American public. The group offers limited editing services, occasional seminars and other how-to-write services to federal agencies.

Check out PLAIN’s Web site for several great tips on how to put together sentences that anyone can understand. You can also download a copy of the Federal Plain Language Guidelines.

What follows is part of a funny list of PLAIN’s tips on how to write good:

1. Always avoid alliteration.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. Avoid cliches like the plague—they’re old hat.
4. Employ the vernacular.
5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7. Parenthetical words however must be enclosed in commas.
8. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
9. Contractions aren’t necessary.
10. Do not use a foreign word when there is an adequate English quid pro quo.
11. One should never generalize.
12. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”
13. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
14. Don’t be redundant; don’t use more words than necessary; it’s highly superfluous.
15. It behooves you to avoid archaic expressions.
16. Avoid archaeic spellings too.
17. Understatement is always best.
18. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
19. One-word sentences? Eliminate. Always!
20. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
21. The passive voice should not be used.
22. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
23. Don’t repeat yourself, or say again what you have said before.
24. Who needs rhetorical questions?
25. Don’t use commas, that, are not, necessary.
26. Do not use hyperbole; not one in a million can do it effectively.
27. Never use a big word when a diminutive alternative would suffice.

Yeah, yeah, you’ve seen me break some of these rules. Sometimes it’s okay to break the rules if you have a good reason to take the bull by the horns and indulge in sesquipedalian lexicological constructions.

Ask.com today cut the ribbon on a new version of its site, which the search engine builder says has improved relevance, user interface and speed.

“Initial feedback from customers testing the new site has been overwhelmingly positive…we’ve already seen a 14 percent increase in customer satisfaction,” Jim Safka, Ask.com’s CEO claims.

Improving its proprietary search technology resulted in better core relevance compared to this time last year and has improved customer retention by 16 percent, Safka adds.

“On average, it takes consumers three clicks to find what they are searching for online. Ask.com’s goal is to reduce this to one click of the search box,” Safka says.

By going deeper into the highest-volume categories such as entertainment, health and nutrition, jobs, and reference, Ask.com is able to deliver answers that are more direct on its results page, helping consumers avoid the back and forth clicking between Web pages. Ask.com says it plans to plumb deeper into many other categories this year.

Ask.com also has simplified its user interface and now ranks and integrates content from a broader and more comprehensive set of content types such as breaking news, blogs, images, videos, and music into the center panel.

The Global Language Monitor, a language studies company based in Austin, Texas, has come up with an interesting take on Thursday’s VP debates. Using a modified version of the Flesch-Kincaid readability formula,  GLM found Governor Sarah Palin spoke at a tenth-grade level, while Senator Joe Biden spoke at nearly an eighth-grade level.

Now, before you conclude that speaking at a higher-grade level means you’re more articulate, brainier or something else like that, it ain’t so Joe. Gov. Palin put eight percent of her sentences in the passive voice, the highest of the 2008 Presidential and Vice Presidential debates thus far. In comparison, Biden put only five percent of his sentences in the passive voice.

Why is that significant? GLM explains: “The excessive use of passive voice can be used to obscure responsibility, since there is no “doer of the action”.  For example, “Taxes will be raised” is a passive construction, while “I will raise taxes” is an active construction.  Five percent is considered average for most of us but low for a politician.

In addition to the use of the passive voice, GLM ranks the candidates’ speech on grade-reading level,  readability, number of words per sentence and the number of characters per word.

Palin spoke a total of 5,235 words compared to Biden’s 5,492. The surprise here is that the normally loquacious Biden showed tremendous restraint, GLM says. The VP candidates nearly tied on the number of sentences per paragraph (2.6 for Palin and 2.7 for Biden). Palin averaged 19.9 words per sentence; Biden averaged 15.8 words. Both averaged 4.4 characters per word (shorter words are easier to understand).

Run the numbers and ease of reading score comes up 62.4 for Palin and 66.7 for Biden. The closer a number is to 100, the higher the ease of reading or hearing, according to the Flesch formula.

Take a look at GLM’s stats on its Web site. You’ll find lots of other interesting stuff.

I wrote about readability algorithms back in July.

My readability scores for this piece, based on Microsoft Word’s built-in readability tool:

• Passive sentences–0%
• Flesch-Reading Ease–47.4
• Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level–10.6

Recently, I took on a new client who wanted me to rewrite his Web site and add a few new pages of content.

From there things went downhill.

It starts with a phone call from the soon-to-be client’s assistant on  a Wednesday. We set up a time for me to meet with the boss on Friday. That day, I drive to his office (a 2-hour round trip) only to find he isn’t there. Evidently, he left town without telling his assistant.

English as a second language

The boss calls me about 8:30 on Sunday evening and apologizes profusely. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he begins negotiating a price for the job although I have no idea what he wants me to do at this point. I tell him I need more info before I can price the gig. He asks to meet the following morning and I readily agree.

To compound things, English is the guy’s second language and from the get-go we’re on different wave lengths. What should be a 10-minute conversation takes 30 minutes.

When I finally sit down with the boss it quickly becomes evident he has little idea of what he wants other than to have the site “look more professional.” At least that’s my takeaway after meeting for an hour and a half. It doesn’t help that neither one of us understands the other half the time.

I recommend I start by analyzing his existing site and proposing some ideas about what to do with the copy. We agree on an hourly rate of $40, which is less than I really want, but I can be flexible to a point. Besides, he really seems like a nice guy.

By now, I have 6 hours into this gig and haven’t earned a dime. I don’t charge for an initial meeting or drive time (with 4 hours of drive time, gas and tolls, I’m already losing money).

Working for the man every night and day

I look at his site and formulate a plan, which takes me about 2 hours. I email the client and we agree to meet a couple of days later (another 2 hours of drive time). The meeting lasts 4 hours during which I explain my proposed copy approach, SEO and several other things. I  mention setting up a Google Analytics account so we can chart our “before” and “after” progress and to understand the site’s metrics. He thinks that’s a waste of time, so I don’t pursue it.

By now, I have 12-plus hours into this project and the most I can bill this guy for is for 6 hours, or $240 (from my end that works out to be $20 an hour, which is about one-sixth the hourly rate of the electrician I hired last week).

Then, I spend about 16 hours writing copy, sending emails back and forth, going ’round and ’round in phone conversations, revising a couple of drafts based on his feedback, and finally putting together a mock up of the home page using Photoshop. By now, I have 22 billable hours into the project.

Your cheatin’ heart

Because it’s the end of the month, I send the boss man an invoice for $880 (22 hours at $40 per). After that, I plan to bill him at the end of each month as long as the job lasts.

The head honcho flips out when he gets my invoice and calls me yelling: “You charge me $880 to write only a few paragraphs? That is too, too much! I give you $320! Job should only take 8 hours!” He slams down the phone.

What am I going to do now? Obviously, we have a failure to communicate. For him, Web writing is just stringing a bunch of sentences together. Should take only a couple of hours. How hard can that be, right?

There’s no  written contract because I was naive enough to think this was going to be a hassle-free job and I didn’t need one. So now I’m probably screwed out of $560 without recourse. Insult to injury, my hourly rate works out to be about $8 per.

Okay, so I’m a dope. There’s no need to write and tell me so. I know. I know. From now on, I’ll get everything in writing like I usually do. I don’t care how nice a person you seem to be.

So, where are you on the info-tech food chain? Couldn’t care less for cell phones? Can’t get enough of that techno stuff?  Answer a few questions to see where you fit in the new typology of information and communication technology users developed by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Is it embarrassment or embarassment or embarrasment? Hell, let the spelling checker figure it out.

What about words that sound alike but are spelled differently and mean different things? Those words, friends, are homonyms and your spelling checker isn’t going to flag them if you spell them correctly but misuse them.

What follows is my list of the 10 most common homonym hang-ups in no particular order:

1. Complement and compliment. You see this one mixed up allot, er, I mean a lot. Complement means to complete or improve, as in, “That whip complements your dominatrix outfit.” Compliment is a well-meaning remark, as in, “Darling, you look smashing in that G string.”
2. Your and you’re. This is another mix up you often see, although I suspect it has more to do with carelessness than anything else. Your is possessive, as in, “I believe this is your goat.” You’re is a contraction of you are, as in, “You’re a space donkey.”
3. Capitol and capital. Capitol is the building where politicians debate things like bailouts and wars. Capital is a city. Capital can also be an adjective and mean “terrific” or “punishable by death,” but there’s no point in going into that right now.
4. Its and it’s. Some spelling checkers will flag this one. Its is possessive, as in, “The nightclub’s most stunning feature is its disco ball.” It’s is the contraction of it is, as in, “It’s hard to get my old Ford Woodie running on cold mornings.”
5. Brake and break. I don’t know how these two get mixed up, but I see it all the time. A brake stops your car. A break in your arm hurts like hell.
6. Altogether and all together. Altogether means entirely, as in “My girlfriend’s parents do not altogether approve of my boozing.” All together means that everyone or thing is in one place, as in, “We were all together at our nudist camp to celebrate the summer solstice.”
7. Principal and principle. A principal is the guy who the teacher sends you to see when you misbehave. Principle is a code of conduct, fact or law. “I have no principles so I stole a gun from principal’s desk even though I understand the principles of right and wrong.”
8. Their, there and they’re. This is another mix up that probably has more to do with carelessness than dopiness. Their is possessive. There is a place. They’re is a contraction of they are. “Their clothes are loose.” “Over there they don’t wear underpants.” “They’re a bunch of loose women.”
9. Stationary and stationery. This one often trips up the unwary. Stationary means to stay in one place. Stationery is fancy writing paper (including the electronic kind).
10. Desert and dessert. If you leave your military post in Iraq to run off with a camel herder, there’s a good chance you deserted and rode off into the desert. If you decide to go to the mess hall and polish off something yummy after dinner, then it’s a dessert.