Joe D’Ambrose

There are a number of ways to keep track of the traffic a website receives. I’ve tried many of them over the years, from Webtrends to Webalizer. Several of these companies charge a monthly fee to use their statistics.

A couple of months ago a friend introduced me to Google Analytics, a free service by Google which generates very detailed stats about a website’s visitors. Allowing a webmaster to review key words, referrers, and optimize their search engine and marketing campaigns by using Google Analytics’ analysis of where visitors came from, how long they stayed on the website, and their geographical position. Another useful feature is the ability to add guest users to view your stats. I installed the Analytics for more than 15 websites and our clients are very happy with all of the new data! I highly recommend.

I could be wrong here, but I have a feeling that using Google Analytics somehow helps your search rankings on Google. This isn’t just a gut feeling, I’ve noticed that since I installed it some of my clients have been coming up higher on the search engines. Maybe I’m trippin’.

I saw this guy’s name somewhere in an issue of Entrepreneur magazine, later in a news release about Napster, and a while back on the Facebook’s ‘about us’ page. So I did a search for him in the Blogosphere and it turns out that he’s a Web 2.0 entrepreneur who founded or co-founded the original Napster, Plaxo, and Facebook. Now he works as a partner for what seems to be a very cool venture capital firm with Peter Theil, The Founders Fund. If you’re interested in internet entrepreneurship or the origins of companies like Facebook, I encourage you to read this blog post by Parker’s friend Numair Faraz entitled “Sean Parker as Jim Clark 2.0“. It’s an interesting read, taking us back 6 years or so into the beginning of this new dotcom boom.

Do you like music? Probably. I haven’t used one of those downloading programs like LimeWire for years though… at college the firewall prevents it and those always seemed to slowdown my computer. I haven’t had a problem acquiring music though, whether I am buying a CD, copying one from a friend, or finding it on SingingFish.com. Recently I discovered Pandora. No downloads, but regardless, you should go to Pandora.com and try it out. Type in an artist or song you like, and Pandora will play selections it thinks are musically similar. Give the song a thumbs down or a thumbs up, and over time you will find that it becomes your own personalized radio station, constantly helping you discover more songs that you like.

Speaking of internet music, I was surprised to read read on TechCrunch that Napster has acquired AOL Music. That’s crazy. Five years ago, I remember it seemed like everyone had AOL, which was the leading dial-up provider, and many hip web-surfers were using Napster to illegally download music. Now 350,000 AOL music listners will become Napster users.

Since 2004, everyone’s been talking about Web 2.0, in other words, the “second generation of Internet-based services that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users.” As if it is some very recent phenomenon. In my opinion we are in the sold-out aftermath of Web 2.0 in which everyone is trying to get their piece. I’d say eBay was the true pioneer.

I began using the Half.com shortly after eBay purchased the site in 2000. I used to join BMG music club and get “12 CDs for the price of 1″, I’d buy all the best sellers and sell them on Half.com. I would go to thrift shops and buy brand new looking books for 25 cents, and a few days later ride my bike over to the post office to ship out the sales. No listing fees, fixed prices, and ultimately, easy to sell. It was a fun way to fund my summers during early high school. Now a days I use the site to buy and sell college textbooks, and it’s also my favorite place to buy CDs and books.

I think this has been my favorite Christmas vacation to date. Suprisingly, my schedule is nearly as crazy as it is at school. I still go to bed at somewhat rediculous hours most of the time. The best part about home is being able to sleep in my own bed - the twin bed in the dorm room can get old real quick. I’m happy to have shelter either way!

This past week, as the holiday decorations get put away I’ve been hammering away mostly on two Normal Kings projects: (1) new functions for Theatre Lives, Connecticut’s favorite website for musical theatre, and (2) Middletown Revival, a website to showcase Max Baldwin’s exciting new property. It’s cool, I am grateful for the fact that I am able to work my own hours and at random locations. I’ve been getting my work done down at Brew Baker’s a lot of the time during this past week.

I don’t spend as much time surfing the net as I used to, because I work on my computer so I’d rather not be sitting at it while not at work. But a part of me is still a tech geek so I thought I’d tell I’d list a few websites that I actually enjoy: TechCrunch, Half.com, Facebook, Myspace, Hotornot, Pandora, Wikipedia, Pollstar, TomGreen.com, Netvibes