Google's Custom Search Engine

Also out this week, yet another new product from the Googleplex, the custom search engine.

How does that work then?

Well webmasters have long been able to add a Google search box to their sites and even earn a small amount of cash for doing so (through the Adsense program).

Now this feature has been evolved to allow you the website owner to control the type of search results returned. You can specify what sites you want results from, what order/bias if any, and whether or not to add "filler" resulst from the web, once your selection of resources are exhausted.

For example, take my recent dating site project: pebblesonthebeach.com. Any search from here I might want to return results from my site first, then from other dating sites that I like, then maybe other Spain portals and finally whatever else the web throws up.

Plus I can earn revenue from it!

Will it be any good?

Dunno yet, as traditional search boxes have not yielded dramatic riches for me personally. But I like the idea. Read Jensense about this subject, she knows what she is talking about.

I will try it out soon on pebbles and report back.

Just Browsing

2 new browser releases in the same week: Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2!

"Whoopey Doo" I hear you say.

Well IE 7 is an update of the ever popular Internet Explorer which has dominated the market for years. Its main new selling point is that it allows tabbed browsing. But be careful, since I have heard and read lots of reports of the new IE7 browser cocking things up, and causing more grief than its worth. I had to uninstall it after I found it buggered up some stuff on my PC at home.

Contrast that with Firefox 2.0 a sleek beauty of a browser which has had tabbed browsing for the last year or two. And it has more shiny features and plugins than you can shake a stick at.

Because Firefox is open source, a large community of developers create useful add ons such as the Gmail notifier. If you have never tried Firefox, give it a go, I was converted about a year ago and hardly ever use IE now, unless I have to.

Love is in the air

Sorry no posts for a wee while. But I have been working on a pet project, my dating in spain website - PebblesOnTheBeach.com.

Go have a look, I'm still debugging bits of it but its getting there. Post a hello in the dating forums while you're there!

18 Questions...

Great post here from SEO stuntdubl, detailing 18 questions to consider when designing or revamping your company website.

He links to some really useful resources and tools - any of you involved in SEO - its well worth the read.

Kyero gets a facelift

Popular Spanish property portal, Kyero.com has had a facelift. The old "no-nonsense" style has been replaced with a fresh Web 2.0 look, incorporating a cool map search interface.

Martin Dell, the owner of Kyero, is passionate about good functionality for his users - more so than most other site owners in our webspace I would venture to say.

Nice work Martin!

Daft World Record

Found on YouTube, this is a new world record for one bloke wearing the most number of t shirts.

Again, as with most of the tat on here utterly pointless. Like the music BTW.

Have I Got News For You

Ever think that the news is sometimes a little bit dull?

Have a look at http://newsbiscuit.com, where you will find the latest breaking exclusives such as:

Dolphins 'stop smiling the moment our back is turned

David Blaine in gruelling attempt to watch his own stunts

Silly. But Fun.