Note: Problem with Flash Player 10 on Vista x64

I'd like to give you a heads-up that you need the Flash Player 10 plug-in for your browser in order to see our blogs properly. The upgrade to Flash Player 10 is necessary due to the slide show widget from Amazon that displays the selected items I would recommend to you. The upgrade is normally painless except Flash 10 does not work with the 64-bit version of Internet Explore (IE7) on Windows Vista x64. To work around the problem, you can switch to run the 32-bit version of IE7 by following these steps:

1. Create a new shortcut on your desktop and set the Target field to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" instead of "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"
2. You should consider giving a different name to the new shortcut to differentiate from existing ones that point to the 64-bit version.
3. Use the new shortcut to launch the 32-bit IE7.
4. The upgrade to Flash Player 10 for the 32-bit IE7 should be very easy and smooth.
   
5. You can drag and drop the new shortcut to the Quick Launch list or the doc, if necessary.

Sorry for any inconvenience. If you still have problems, don't hesitate to drop me a note or send me an email. Otherwise, enjoy your reading...

Celebrate 2009 New Year with PageRank 2/10

I wish all of you have a wonderful holiday break. It's still not too late to enjoy the quiet and peaceful time with your family over the next couple of days, before you head back to the office and the schools start.

First of all... a good news and a great gift I'd like to share with all of you. The parent blog of Online Business Review, Project BKO: Online Business Incomes is currently ranked 2 out of 10 by Google PageRank. This is an incredible accomplishment, given that Project BKO has done no advertisement and little in search engine optimization (SEO). Although I have some experiments with keywords and back links, I attribute the PageRank result primarily to readership. For that, my kids and I are truly thankful to have you visiting our blog and giving feedback to our posts.

The two month old Project BKO currently has two sister blogs - Fishtarian for health diet and lifestyle for wellness and Online Business Review that aims to provide the best reviews and recommendations to online business starters and Internet entrepreneurs. Over the next few weeks, we plan to launch an exciting blog featuring series of cartoons that hopefully bring some fun to you and your family. We also plan to launch our online printing business in Spring. We are committed to making our blogs valuable and useful to your own online business, your personal health and daily life. We look forward to having your continuous support in growing Project BKO to the next level.

Lastly, let me propose a toast to... our health, prosperity, and success in 2009. Happy New year to you all.

[picture source: www.californiawinehikes.com]

Online Business Review: The Best Traffic Analysis

Whether you want to search for business partners or analyze your competitors, Alexa provides you valuable information related to website traffic, site popularity, related sites, detailed usage/traffic stats, supported character-set/locales, and site contact information. Recently acquired by Amazon.com, Alexa aims to bring web navigation to the next level that is both intelligent and constantly improving with the participation of its users similar to Google's PageRank. Using its Related Links menu that comes with Alexa's Toolbar, you can easily find other websites of your interest.
[Updated 12/21/08]

Online Business Review: The Best Free Blog Site

If you're looking for a place to host your blogs, look no further. You're at the right place. The Blogger.com from Google is my best choice of blogging services. It's a reliable service with lots of features you need. Best of all, you can start blogging today free of charge. Read "Find The Home For Your Blogs: Blogger v.s. WordPress" for an objective feature-by-feature comparison and find out which best suits you.

Online Business Review: The Best Article Directory

Thinking about promoting your websites via article marketing? Sounds like a good idea. But, where to submit your articles? There are so many article directories out there; each claims that they'll distribute your articles to over thousands of publishers. The "Boost Site Traffic via Article Marketing?" offers an insightful discussion of how article marketing works and an objective overview of those article directories. If you are short of time and have to pick just one, I'd recommend Ezine Articles based on its site traffic, PageRank, and quality of the articles.

Online Business Review: The Best Online Publishing Communities

There are several online publishing communities out there; each has its own special characteristics. You can read "Write for More Profit: eHow, Squidoo, and HubPages" for an obejctive comparison review of the three most popular sites. For starters, I'd recommend eHow and HubPages from the perspective of traffic and profitability. You can also see the traffic comparison chart from Alexa.

Online Business Review: The Best Affiliate Network

There are many affiliate networks out there today that connect between the advertisers and the publishers. Each has its own niche sectors. Which is the best for you? The article "Monetize Your Website via Affiliate Marketing" has a good discussion. My best choice has been Commission Junction. Among many other things, Commission Junction offers the best choices of brand name advertisers such as Yahoo, Dell, HP, and many others. It also provides both the advertisers and the publishers excellent tools and analysis reports to manage their accounts and affiliate activities.

Online Business Review: How Do Links Impact Your PageRank?

Everyone knows that the search engine is the crown jewel of Google. Yet, the core of the search ranking is PageRank that determines the position of a web page in the search results. A thorough explanation of PageRank technology can be found at Wikipedia. Many of SEO's understand that links have great impact on the PageRank scores. Visit PageRank Explained in Bright Colors and "Google's PageRank Explained and how to make the most of it" for good explanations and examples.