Ok, Google Wave was just recently released, and I still haven’t gotten my invite.  What is a poor web consultant to do?  Why, search the web for other things that I can play with now.  This is where Zoho comes in.

First of all, Zoho is not new – it’s been around at least a few years now, competing solidly with Google Docs at least as far back as 2007.  I have read a number of articles on it this year, and even ones that proclaimed it to have beaten Google Wave to the scene with integrated conversations, documents and project management.  Additionally, Zoho gets high marks when compared to Google Docs for its more feature-rich and elegant user interface.  But, there’s a good chance you haven’t heard of them as they don’t have the household name brand that Google has.  Additionally, Zoho is not an open-source platform, so external developers aren’t going to be paying attention to it like they are with Google Wave.

The first thing that strikes me when visiting their site is the huge array of applications they have.  It is truely amazing.  Ok, I’ve known about the document and calendar stuff – but a CRM service too?  And an online web-conference tool?  Web-email?  Ok, I’m really intrigued and wondering why I didn’t follow up with them sooner.

Just like Google’s applications, Zoho is 100% in the cloud – yes, more cloud computing services.  But unlike Google’s apps, Zoho’s are much slicker – I’m understanding those positive reviews I’ve heard.  While I have very limited hands on to give a formal review, I’ll at least throw out a few visuals that tell their own story:

The main screen for the Zoho word processer

As you can see above in the left side navigation, Zoho integrates all their tools together.

A pretty slick set of toolbars for a web-app

Compare the feature-rich tabbed tool-bar to the more simplistic one from Google below.  To many, simple might be better, but for most business-oriented users, Zoho provides a better web-based replacement to Microsoft Office.

The Google word processor toolbar by comparison

Zoho is one tough competitor to Google in the cloud computing realm, but it will be interesting to see how Google Wave impacts things.  I expect Google Docs to become more Wave-oriented, but Zoho should also benefit from Wave as it brings more attention to cloud computing platforms in general.

Do you have experience with Zoho that you can share?  How do you think it stacks up to Google?

The sun is rising to light up the skies of cloud computing. And it looks like Google Chrome OS.

Cloud computing is on the horizon.  And despite the jargony term, it’s more familiar than you think.

“Cloud computing”, you ask?

Well, you could consider this blog article cloud computing.  Although you see the article on your screen and you are reading these words, this article doesn’t exist on your computer – unless you purposely copied it to your computer or are reading it from your computer cache.  No, it exists on a server… somewhere… heck, I don’t even know where.  And really, that is the case with all websites – you are pulling up website that exist somewhere… out there… in the CLOUD.

“So if the internet can be consider the CLOUD, then what’s the big deal about cloud computing?  We’ve been on the internet for years.”

Yes, but we are still grounded by our interface – hardware and software that makes that fluffy internet accessible.  However, more and more of the software and content has already been slowly moving to the cloud.

Who here uses Outlook or Outlook Express to view their email?  Or are you using Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, or some other online service?  More and more of us are utilizing web-based email.  Instead of using a piece of software (Outlook) that we paid for and installed on our computer to access emails that get downloaded to our computers, we have webmail where we setup a free account and view all our email online.  And it stays online – forever (in theory, anyway).

“Ok, I’ve been using Gmail for years – I’m a cloud computing expert”, you say.

Well, you may be – I’m not here to judge – but we’re still left with hardware.  You know, that big box with the hard drives and the OS installed.

“But I’m on a netbook”, you respond.

Ok, you sipping the expresso, take your rain cloud computing over there please, before somebody gets wet.  But, um, leave the expresso please. Oh, and we’ll get back to you in a moment.

So now that I have hopefully lifted the… well the cloud on cloud computing, you are probably thinking that it seems pretty familiar after all.  But if we’re not entirely there, then what is the next step?

Actually, Google is.

You see, back in July they annouced a new operating system that they are currently developing, Chrome OS.  Now, it had long been rumored that Google might jump into the operating system wars that is currently dominated by Microsoft Windows and Apple OS X, but this OS won’t run on your hardware – it will exist in the cloud.

“But how?”

Well, again, all those servers that house your Gmail, your Google Docs and Picasa photos will also house your Chrome OS.  And that also long rumored Google GDrive, well most predict that when Chrome OS deputs it will do so with GDrive as the online storage solution for everything you do via Chrome OS.

Now, you just need a basic device that has an internet connection and the Google Chrome browser.  No spec’d out processor, no multi TerraByte hard drives, no maxxing out on RAM cards, no OS.  Oh, and here is where you netbookers can join us again – you’re actually the first primary market Google will tap.  But they’ll want some of you expresso in return – they love Caffeine.

As excited as I get by the concept, there are definitely pros and cons to cloud computing.  First off, it is dependent on the internet and the internet’s bandwidth and availability.  Where I live, I can only get high speed internet via satellite.  If you have never had satellite internet, be thankful.  And believe it or not, a decent percentage of internet users are still using dial-up.  I don’t see power users like those that do graphic design, video editing and 3D modeling to be on a cloud computer anytime soon, but for the casual and business user, it just might do.  After all, Google Docs and Gmail is proving that business can be done online without Microsoft Office and Picasa and Youtube can be used to manage large media files.  And having all that content available wherever you have an internet connection is tempting.

Although we have probably hit a point already where we have the best of both worlds – powerful local hardware with unlimited cloud-based applications already online – the simplisity and affordability of cloud computing mixed with the clout of a name like Google, could make total cloud computing mainstream.

If you haven’t noticed yet when performing a search in Google, you now have the ability to click on a text link in the top left of the search results that says “Show options”.  Pretty nifty, eh?

Yep, Google is rolling out new features because, well, because they’re Google, but also to compete with other specialized search engines including Twitter’s ability to offer real time search and the search options on Microsoft’s new Bing.com search engine.

One of the nicest aspects of these new search options for site owners is how it gives you additional criteria to optimize your content for.  Instead of rewriting the wheel, here is a great article from WebProNews that gives a nice summary of all the details:

http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2009/05/18/how-do-googles-new-search-options-affect-seo

A co-worker talked you into setting up an account on LinkedIn, which you briefly did, but then forgot about it and never followed up on it further.  It has a minimal amount of basic content on it and maybe you only linked up with a few other people at best.  Well, that basic profile is likely now one of the highest ranked webpages for your name in Google.  That’s a good reason to revisit that profile and freshen it up.

Social media websites are really starting to dominate search engine listings.  Social media profiles are getting top spots for individual names.  This is particularly true if your name is a somewhat less common.

Since your social media profile is likely one of the first things that will pull up in Google if someone is searching on your name, then make sure your profile is up-to-date and and complete.  If it is LinkedIn, they use a handy percentage meter to let you know how complete your profile is and what you need to fill out next.

The length of time that you have owned a domain name has a some influence on how Google views your website.  This is because Google wants to avoid spammers as much as possible.  Spammers will frequently buy up discarded domain names and attach them to a spam-oriented website.  Since these sites muck up Google’s search results, Google is a bit leary with any site that has a fresh domain name registration as it may suspect spam.  Also, new websites with new domain names are not yet well established.  Google does not want to risk a high ranking for a website that just might be a short term site.  Quality listings are what Google wants.  Websites that have been online for a long time with a long standing domain name are viewed as higher in quality to Google.

If you have your domain name registered for 10 years out as opposed to year-to-year, then Google assumes you have more expectations of being around for the long haul.  Renew your domain name for large chunks at a time if possible, as it gives Google more warm vibes about your site.

So Google big hitters Matt Cutts and Maile Ohye recently shared during a question and answer session that Google made over 450 changes to its search algorithm last year.  That means that Google changed it’s mind over 450 times on how it decided to rank websites.

Over 450 times!

Granted, many of these changes were minor tweaks, but still, those Google geeks stay busy.

So what does this mean to you?  Specifically that you need to stay on top of your website rankings and making sure that your site is properly search engine optimized for right now, not for a year ago.  A static or abandoned website equals a dead website.  You need to stay busy with your website because Google stays busy with it too.  If you get too far behind Google, you may have less search engine visibility as a result.

In most cases, Google is the main artery for your online traffic.  It brings you business so don’t ignore it.  If you don’t have time in your schedule to keep up with Google, make sure you hire somebody that can.

Google Turns 10 Today!

Google, the rulers of planet earth, turns 10 today.  It is amazing that such a young company has risen so far in so little time.  It wasn’t that long ago when it was just one of many search engines that you had to focus SEO efferts on.  Now, it demands the bulk of our time.

In addition to search, they have also developed quite a stable of useful and fun tools as well.  Do the following names ring a bell: GMail, Blogger, Picasa, Adwords?  All Google.  How about Google Earth, Google Reader, Google Docs, Google Desktop, Google Maps, Google Calendar, Google Checkout?  Well, ok, the word “Google” in the names gives those away…  And now, just in the last month we have Google Chrome, the new Google browser and Google Android, the new Google mobile phone platform.

It will be very interesting to see what the next 10 years will bring.