It was several weeks ago. I came home from the office and made a quick stop at the mailbox. On the way through the front door, I noticed a nondescript white envelop amidst the bills and magazines. I looked it over and quickly realized the return address was from a website I had signed up with some time before. Although it was a mass mailing, I still felt valuable to them. I opened the letter and found no postcard, no note, but three different stickers. The took a look at the stickers and before the night was over I was back on that site, digging for reasons for the stickers and making myself part of their community.

I must confess this is a paid review for a label and sticker manufacturing business. I only took the review because I liked what they had to offer and felt it could maybe help one of my readers with a need either now or down the road. This review presents the idea of the business to you, as I have not purchased any stickers from the company at the point of writing this.

Stickers and labels offered from Frontier Label could be used to promote a startup or to improve packaging for any number of products. The company uses state of the art technology to reduce costs and to improve output of the stickers. They use digital printing to create the custom labels and stickers. The savings get passed on to you.

The Sticker Ordering Site

The Frontier Label site has a lot to offer the end-user. The site looks terrific and really lends the company credibility from the start. You can quickly see they types of stickers they’re offering from the home page. You can also go through the site to create a custom order for everything from coffee bag stickers to bumper stickers.

Once you select the quantity of your desired sticker, then you can begin making decisions about its printing, quality, and size. They offer a wide variety of options for the laid back consumer and the need-it-now type. The prices are dependent on the type of printing your have done — HP Electroink or thermal transfer.

Buying from Frontier Label

Purchasing stickers couldn’t get any easier. The site offers a wide variety of stickers — good for any marketing venture, product image enhancement, or simple goodwill gesture. The site caters to small businesses, startups, and even bloggers if you had the need. Sending a bumper sticker through the mail to a reader might seem like a trivial thing, but it could encourage loyalty to your brand. If you have a need for stickers or labels, then you at least have one new place too look.

Google released their free Chrome browser today. This open source browser promises to be fast and quick with javascript applications, securing computers by sandboxing the websites they browse inside the tabs, and more than adequate with dynamic sites. I checked to see if G Chrome was downloadable when I first got online today, but found it hadn’t been released just yet. By mid afternoon, I was visiting www.google.com/chrome to see how it worked.

I was pleasantly surprised by the simple interface. Google created the browser from scratch, knowing that users like to watch videos, play flash games, and browse quickly from site to site. They also know most Web 2.0 sites have dynamic code to make them work. When I browsed to sites like Digg or Youtube, I was amazed at how fast they loaded. Others are comparing it to Opera.

Everyone should at least download the browser to see how your site looks in it — make sure it renders properly. There are also some neat features to mess around with, like the address bar suggestions/search and the incognito window.

The Incognito Window

I love the description of the Incognito window. They say to be wary of the following: 

Going incognito doesn’t affect the behavior of other people, servers, or software. Be wary of:

• Websites that collect or share information about you
• Internet service providers or employers that track the pages you visit
• Malicious software that tracks your keystrokes in exchange for free smileys
• Surveillance by secret agents
• People standing behind you

Yes, be wary of the people standing behind you, secret agents, and other tin-foil hat wearing paranoids. Google’s got your back on this one. 

The Skinny

My sythesized thoughts on the new browser. Tell me your thoughts in the comment section. 

• The browser has no obvious IE 6 type of errors for my site. 
• I can access many sites faster now, especially dynamic sites. 
• I’m also scared of Google owning all the web. 
• It will likely work well for dropping EC, except the EC toolbar won’t work with it. Well, no plugins work with it now. 
• The “Most Visited” default tab rocks! It lets you quickly search, click on recent sites, and view recent bookmarks. Definitely a smart default screen. No reason why the IE one couldn’t do something similar. 
• I like the search on both the history and favorites. It’s nice, not sure how much I’ll use it, but handy. 
• I’m excited to see how they integrate other Google products with the browser, like Google Reader and Gmail. Any plugins related to those apps would be great. 

I have to admit, this post is shamefully late. The idea behind the Micro-blogging Olympics was to test out the three major Micro-blogging sites — Twitter, Plurk, and Pownce — to gauge their effectiveness towards site traffic. The experiment was a lot of fun. I met a lot of cool people and found myself enjoying new Twitter apps and the Plurk site more and more each day. I honestly never took to Pownce though. It just seems too void of performance. I actually enjoyed Rejaw better, which is a new MB site that allows 1000 character posts, which may be moving into mini-blogging, not micro.

I can’t say the experiment was a complete success. I don’t think I have the social ability to push out tweets every five minutes or get into debates with random users, like some do. Most of the time I’m too busy working to bother with updating. I used the services to unwind and to catch up with people I’ve come to know online.

All in all, I Plurk much more than I Twitter. I think its because Plurking allows me to converse rather than just speak into a void with the hope of someone echoing back a statement or two. On Plurk I’m almost guaranteed some eyeballs on my thoughts or a funny conversation to look in on.

What Results Did I See?

The immediate results have been tangible. I know I’ve attracted a few new readers to my blog, making friendships along the way. I’ve networked and found someone to help with another project of mine. I’ve received a few link backs from various people who found me through Plurk. On the scale that I used the service, it helped me branch out and find new people to read my blog, comment and to network with me both on the Micro-blogging site and in my other networks.

The statistics show a much blander result. Throughout August I had 17 visits from Plurk. Of those 17, 58% were new visitors. They stayed on average 2:37, which is well above my site average. Unfortunately Twitter sent me 10 new visitors and they didn’t stick around long. (Just noticed Squidoo sent me a decent amount of traffic, but not sure for what.)

Proportionate Results

You really do get what you put into these networks. I know I’ve made a few new connections, laughed a lot, and learned a lot too. Micro-blogging sites may cater to a specific personality, but everyone can enjoy at least some aspect of one of these sites — you just have to find the right one for your tastes. I gravitated towards Plurk, but maybe your message can get out there better through Twitter.

Do you know how to build back links to the blog, e-commerce store, or site you’ve started? Link building may be one of the most sought skills for any site owner. After all, links help your site become found by search engines, build traffic, and increase your site’s readership. At LinkBuildingWiki.com you will find a vast resource focused on the art of link building. The wiki makes it easy to find resources related to link building.

What is the Link Building Wiki?

The LinkBuildingWiki.com compiles links to authoritative articles, blog posts, forum posts, and their sites for users to find information quickly.  The  site is completely free to use. If you’re new to link building or SEO, then this wiki should be your first stop on the journey.

Unlike other wikis, the Link Building Wiki is not open for everyone to edit. Those who would like to participate in building content can apply for the privilege. I understand why they have it closed. Imagine the amount of spam a link building wiki would receive — now you understand too.

The site lists link building resources including SEO blogs, forums and active posts in those forums, link building articles, and link building tools. The resources are first rate and should help anyone become acquainted with tips, tricks, and lessons related to link building.

Throughout the site, you may notice recommendations for certain material from two of the creators, Rob and Jarrod. They make it easy for you to spot their favorite material. The recommendations guide you towards quality information on link building.

The Hands off Approach

For those who simply want someone with the know-how to build links to your site, you can hire the experts behind the Link Building Wiki. From their link building services page offers everyone the information needed to hire their staff for link building work.

Conclusion

The wiki introduced me to quite a few sites on link building and SEO I hadn’t heard of before this review. If you’re looking to build back links to your site, increase your search engine rankings, or just gain SEO knowledge, then the Link Building Wiki should be part of your arsenal.

Hi there,

I see you came to my site looking for “web 2.0 skills”. I’m not entirely sure why you found my page, but I’m glad you did. I’m afraid you didn’t stick around to learn any skills, but maybe that’s already a sign you have web 2.0 skills. It says here you bounced from the first page you visited? How did I lose you so quick?

I guess you came to my site expecting big buttons to push, tons of videos instructing you on the neo-art of converting social activity into dollars, and titillating internet memes. I’m sorry to have disappointed. I can tell you my site will give you tips on writing, marketing, and various blogging tools.

I could have inspired you to begin writing a blog of your own, if you didn’t already own one. You might even have been able to quit your day job. I’m not a money making blog, but your writing skills would have improved. Trust me. You would have wanted to take this route.

If you did own a blog, then I could have helped you write powerful messages to your readers.

I know Web 2.0 skills are hard to come by, just like computer hacking skills.I’m wondering where you went. Were there other Web 2.0 skill sites to visit? I’m checking now.  I see now that I come up on the first page of Google for Web 2.0 Skills (not anymore). It’s not a huge surprise. I’ve got skills like that.

If you’re here looking for web 2.0 skills, sign up for my RSS feed so you don’t miss my skill building seminar.