Thursday, September 2, 2010

Proper technique for using the anchor text

What is Anchor Text?
The anchor tag is the HTML code used to create a backlink. Backlinks are implemented on any HTML page including blog comments, social networking sites and Twitter. One property of the anchor tag is creating a link using customized keywords. These keywords are the anchor text shown to users to click the link. With an added importance in increasing Page Rank in Google, backlinks became a target for business marketing.

For instance, the following is an old style way to create a link:

Read about my article here.

However, “here” does not give Google and other search engines any kind of indication of the importance of “here.” Instead, website owners should target keyword phrases. A better search engine optimized website uses the following way to create a backlink:


Anchor Text SEO and Building Backlinks
The key to increase Page Rank in Google is backlink popularity and the anchor text used during the website owner’s campaign to build backlinks on other sites. There are several places where the website owner can choose his own backlink anchor text. The anchor text is a part of the association Google places between the keywords and the website’s place in the search engine. The following are a few common places to build backlinks:

* Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter
* Blogs (personal and business)
* Forums
* Bookmarking sites

Choosing Anchor Text Keyword Phrases
Some sites offer keyword builder tools to help the website owner determine which keyword phrases are the best. However, the best way to check keyword phrases for a backlink anchor text is using the Google keyword tool. There are thousands of keyword phrases available for a website owner to target traffic and start building backlinks.

After backlinks are created, the website owner can check backlink campaigns using Google Webmaster Tools. Another tool for a more comprehensive backlink history is the Yahoo Site Explorer interface. This tools shows the webmaster backlinks that are sometimes not shown in Google Webmaster Tools. These two interfaces help keep track of the success of a backlink building campaign.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

How Pencils are Made

The first step in making pencils is the preparation of the graphite center, or "lead." Graphite is a dark, soft mineral which is ground and added to clay and water in a mixing chamber. After the water is squeezed out, the remaining graphite/clay compound is allowed to air dry until it becomes a powder again. This graphite powder is mixed once again with water to form a soft paste. The graphite paste is then extruded through thin metal tubes to form pencil-sized rods. These rods are superheated to create hard and smooth pencil leads.

Meanwhile, a woodworking machine slices blocks of cedar wood into thinner slats. Another machine cuts eight grooves across the length of these slats. Pencils are not carved from a single blank, but actually start out as two half-blanks glued together. As the two halves of the pencils are sandwiched and glued, another machine places a graphite rod on each of the eight shallow grooves. The entire slab of uncut pencils is allowed to dry before further processing.

A special cutting machine receives the uncut sandwiches of wood and graphite, then blades trim down the sides of the pencils to form the familiar hexagonal or round shape. The cutting machine also snaps the slab into individual pencils. Sanding machines smooth out the surfaces of the pencils and prepare them to receive several coats of paint. It is not unusual for pencils to receive up to eight coats of paint to produce the splinter-free surface necessary for safe use of the product.

The painted pencils then receive a hot-stamp pressing usually containing the manufacturer's name and a number corresponding with the relative hardness of the graphite lead. The most common hardness has a designation of #2, but pencils with hardness levels up to #4 can often be found in hobby or office supply stores. Hardness in pencils generally means how much graphite is released per stroke. The higher the hardness number, the less graphite is released, which results in a lighter line.

Traditional wooden pencils are still manufactured in a process first introduced in the 1600s. Modern woodworking machines and automation methods have definitely streamlined the manufacturing process, but most of today's pencils do not vary much from their centuries-old predecessors. Essentially, pencils are the end result of a sandwiching process involving graphite and slabs of cedar wood.

Source: Wisegeek

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

How Potato Chips are Made

This monster of the snack food industry has to go through many steps before it takes on its form as a potato chip. First the potatoes are dumped into a bath and washed. Then they are lifted to the peeler. The peeler is not the modest little metal potato peeler you use in your kitchen. The peeler is a long cylinder with rollers that revolve around and around stripping the potato of its skin. The peeled potatoes then empty unto an inspection table where inspectors look for defects in the potatoes to remove.

Then the potatoes move to a slicer that looks like something out of a scary monster movie. The slicer features eight sharp blades held upright in a ring. In the center of this ring is a revolving plate. One by one the potatoes drop upon this revolving plates. Over and over the spinning plates throw the potatoes against the revolving blades to remove slices from the potatoes. Generally these slices are 1/20 of an inch.

These newly made slices are carried to the fryer while being washed and dried. Hot oil and slices are put in the back of the fryer together. (The fryer is a long shallow trough.) While cooking the chips, the hot oil pushes them from the back of the trough to the front where they are carried off by conveyor belt.

A conveyor lifts the chip out of the oil. Then workers salt, season and inspect them. A conveyor belt carries them to machines where they are packaged. Those packages arrive at your grocery or convenience stores. Americans snack on potato chips all year round. Yet more of these monstrously popular snack are consumed on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day.

And to think that this monster snack began with just a humble Michigan potato!

Source: Michigan