RSS sounds so exotic.  Real Simple Syndication, or 'RSS' feed, is used to create live links to a web site which update themselves in a subscribers bookmarks.  The use extends into RSS readers like Google reader, Yahoo Reader RSS and many other services that publish your blog articles.  RSS can also be used for podcasts which provides an excellent method of distributing sermons, audio stories, poems, self help, inspirational non-denominational and the list is only limited by one's imagination.  Real Simple Syndication allows the web site to reach out to new subscribers and social media sites that allow you to post your feed.  RSS is an extension of your blog that can be subscribed to and viewed.

With today's tough times it seems that it's difficult to get a business into and onto the Internet effectively.  10 Internet years leap past by many businesses and now from every corner there is talk of blogs (web logs) and 'tweets'. Something called social media is developing it's own wings with millions of people breezing past one another anonymously on the Internet. The key is social interaction, not necessarily social media.

There have been some nasty hacks on sites that turn them into link zombies and if you use (highly recommended if you are hosting your own WordPress blog or some open source ecom solution) Fetch as Googlebot tool in Google's webmaster tools you can see them although a visit to the site will look normal. This has been a bunch of 'bad bots' that I think really started in Oct-Nov. exploiting the default settings of a Apache server (PHP is defaulted in evaluation mode (eval64) so certain commands can be used to break into a site). Keep your word press apps patched and if you use something like OS Commerce you best visit the OSC forums to lock down your installs. This actually affects new versions more then the old un-patched versions which are more subject to individual hacks but that is less serious than a malicious bot. A plus side for Hub spotters is the platform is on MS servers. The requirements of running a MS server involve actual training vs. the sort of casual attitude of a LAMP server hosting company. You really need to know what you are doing to keep it secure. Hosting companies like to say the server has never been hacked but that does not include the client's accounts which get hacked all the time. I certainly do not see the difference if the site is a spam bot but the hosting companies just shrug their shoulders. If you go with a LAMP server then make sure you add a PHP.INI file that deactivates all the development functions of PHP (.ASP is the MS equivalent but they don't run a production server with development features turned on. I think it's an open source thing with clueless hosting companies). This year should be interesting with more evil bots. It's great the hackers have come up with productivity tools now. The intent seems to be focused at SEO link building and identity theft. At any rate the sites you mentioned are compromised. They just don't know how to see it.

This basic flowchart shows the typical E Commerce transaction path. E commerce provides a means of selling tangible goods on the Internet.  The transaction is captured through the shopping cart which in the first image shows the simplistic flow of the purchase.  A shopping cart can be an entire web site and encompass far more then check out processes.

Content needs to be managed and that's where Content Management Systems play a major role.  The Content Management System takes a complex task of managing a web site both for web site navigation and adding images / hyperlinks to a web page.  It's important to understand the organizational structure of a basic web site is based on a collection of individual pages that are 'linked' together to form a web site.  The idea of the 'web'  is based on the threads (or links) created by a spider.  Indeed search engine 'bots' are also called spiders because they follow all the threads (or links) and create a special kind of 'map' that helps it understand the relationship of pages and links. Managing a web site requires some kind of methodology to updating the content and then promoting the content. On a simple site this is  possible although challenging with changing content. On a medium to large site this becomes a daunting task.

It was not too long ago when a web site was a novelty to most businesses. Now more and more businesses are asking if a web site is right for them. There can be confusion on exactly what a web site is supposed to do . It's extremely important to plan out exactly what you want to achieve. There are two ways your site can be found. Directly, that is you gave someone your web site address or through on of the Search sites like Google.

1. Who is your audience?
2. Does your existing client base use the Internet?
3. What geographical area represents your clients?
4. Do you sell products or services?

When faced with a long tail keyword phrase use proper grammar for your site. Long-tails can be misspellings but that is not how you want to be found. This does not mean you can't play around a little with the keyword order if it makes sense when you read it. You want to attract clients who can tell the difference in your products. You want to capture the attention as quickly as possible.  A trick that might be palatable is to reference the correct grammar and in a non judgmental way against the incorrect grammar. ' Some people call our 'widget'', a "widgette", or "widgetes" however the proper reference is "widget".

The point is not to frighten. The point is to plan very well and have a good reason for doing it. Many times a well performing web site is deleted to replace it with some kind of flash monster.

With good planning:
mapping out all the inbound links,
content,
pages,
internal linking,
redirecting them with 301 header,
making sure the web server can support re-directs easily,
URL structure from old to new,