by Catherine L. Tully

I’m a huge fan of Google in terms of innovation, and I use several of the things that they offer–besides the search engine. If you are a writer who needs to work on something with another person, I would highly recommend Google Documents. You can set it so that the people you want to be able to see your documents can open them and make changes. I have used this many times for Word and Excel. This side-steps the e-mailing back and forth, as well as the possible overlap of changes.

Google calendar is another one I like. This is great for Joe and I, as we can keep track of what the other person has going on from month to month. While I haven’t yet adopted g-mail (and probably won’t), I do find that Google is an incredibly useful entity. If you haven’t yet investigated the possibilities, swing by and check it out sometime. See what works for you…

by Catherine L. Tully

Is everything we know about computer operating systems about to change? If Google has its way–it is. Google Chrome is making a big splash, and people are saying that things like virus software and computer updates may well be a thing of the past if it catches on. The key will be having a notebook computer that has Chrome installed on it. Flash-based memory will replace hard drives and online storage will allow faster, more efficient booting and saving. While the manufacturers that Google will be pairing with are still a mystery, it is interesting to think about what may be down the road for us all…

Check out some of the FAQs from PC World and let me know if you’re excited.

Recently I noticed something weird happening when I typed in URLs in Firefox. When I wanted to go to CNN.com, for example, the auto-fill feature that completed the string when I type CN wasn’t completing CNN.com, it was completing CNN.com.net, redirecting me not to where I wanted to go, but to a “search tool” which is a thinly disguised attempt to make money online by getting you to click on one of the affiliate ads to get away from the page.

My first thought was that I had a virus. But when I got rid of all the cookies in my browser, not only did the auto-fill activity return to normal, but my pages started loading with lightning speed. It had been a long time since I’d cleared out the cookies–quite frankly, I’d forgotten to do it. Now that I have done it, I notice a definite change in performance.

Want to know how to flush out all those cookies?

In Firefox, go to the TOOLS tab;
Select OPTIONS;
Select PRIVACY;
You should have an option to SHOW COOKIES;
and click REMOVE ALL COOKIES

If you disable cookies completely, you won’t be able to use Google properly. What I did was to tell Firefox to ask my permission every time–a huge pain in the arse–but I approved Google and other vital cookies for the duration. You can also disable third-party cookies or set all cookies to expire when the browser closes. It’s really down to personal preference.

***UPDATED*** Looks like Google is back to normal now. The zombie attack or whatever it was is over. But in case you’re needing a bit of history, read below for a wee bit of snark.

Google Mail is down according to very recent reports and if you’re relying on it to get ANY work done today, might as well take an early powder and crack open the beverage of your choice. One does idly speculate if the fires in California have anything to do with this, but that would be irresponsible to say—could be any number of damn things from a melted server to the return of the UFOs from the seventh dimension to claim all the really good Scrabble players.

by Catherine L. Tully

If you learn how to maximize your search efforts on Google, you will ultimately streamline your research time. This means time saved–something every freelance writer can get excited about. How do you learn how to search effectively? There are some great tips to be had, if you dig a little bit…

For example–did you know that if you want to search for something in your area you can simply type in the category with the zip code and Google will return a list of choices? Pretty handy for travel writers or those on the go.

Trying to fill in the blank? Type in your query with an asterisk (*). Example: Paul Newman was born in *

Intriuged? You can learn more about these little tricks by visiting Google’s “Search Features” page. Go ahead. Make life easier!

by Catherine L. Tully

I just posted about Bing the other day. It’s a new search engine that is giving Google a run for the money. If you can’t decide which one you prefer, why not stack them up side-by-side and do a search. This site will allow you to do exactly that. Although either one can be a great asset for freelance writers, you may find you prefer one over the other once you compare. As for me? I’m still undecided…

by Catherine L. Tully

A year from now, if you want to search for something on the web, will you “Bing” it instead of “Google” it? The jury is still out on Bing, but I have tried it and I have to say…it’s good. Bing returned more hits on my name than Google, and it is very user-friendly. I don’t know that I am ready to make the leap to be a full-timer, but I’m going to keep it in my bag of tricks. Try it out and see what you think…

Guess what? I don’t look for markets in the typical places. And guess what else? It really pays off. I’m here to tell you one of the tricks of the trade…you have to go off the map. Instead of looking for markets and guidelines in the usual places, broaden your search. Google is a wonderful tool for this. Just type in “writers guidelines” along with a keyword and boom … a list of things to investigate. For example, since I write about dance, I would use that (or variations of that, such as dancer, dancing, etc.) as the keyword. It’s a simple tip, but one that brings work. Give it a try and see what happens…

Ok. Let’s get ready for some competition folks. Looks like Google is making Microsoft nervous…because next year it will release a version of Microsoft Office–for free. That’s right…you heard me…free. Not only that, but it will support Firefox and Safari browsers…read more about it here, and get ready to enjoy more perks if this war keeps the heat on…

Am I suggesting that you put misleading information into your blog headlines? HELL NO. What I am suggestion is that people don’t put enough though into those headlines. They don’t realize that Google latches on to keywords–especially those found in headlines–and may give your next blog entry higher placement if you use Google-friendly buzzwords such as “freelance rates” or “freelance jobs”.

Headlines can be a very powerful way to attract more clicks if you structure them correctly. Notice that my bogus Barack Obama headline leads with the most Googleable word in the string. “Barack Obama” is very hot right now, so I capitalized on that to pull add SEO value to the headline. “Blog” can also be a hot Google word depending on what you use it with. In my case, the usage is weak because I don’t tie the word “blog” in with anything else, so I lose points for that.

Headlines can be your best friend depending on the topic you’re writing about…when you write them, think GOOGLE.