It has been quite a while since I've last updated this blog. It doesn't mean that I have stopped writing, just that I've been writing other places. For SEO, I will mostly continue to post articles on the Live Search Webmaster blog, for developer related content (and O'Reilly Found conference information) will continue to post on Jane and Robot, and finally for financial insight I'll be writing on Meridian Pacific Investments blog.

I've been really busy lately with Microsoft and the O'Reilly conference, but I still have a few additional side projects that I'll be introducing in the next couple months. Stay tuned. Here's a few of the articles I've published recently:

• URL Referrer Tracking - overview of the various implementations available for tracking where your traffic is coming from in a search-friendly way.
• SMX East: AJAX, CSS and Web 2.0 - a strategic look at implementation options for building search-friendly Web 2.0 applications.
• SMX East: Unraveling URLs and Demystifying Domains - top 7 issues we at Live Search see with URLs and how to avoid them
• SMX East: Webmaster Guidelines - overview of the search engine guidelines for indexing and background information on why they exist.

I will continue to update this blog as time permits, but I don't write very much that isn't finance or SEO related these days. Hopefully as I dig deeper into some of my other projects I'll have something useful to write.

I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to check out my session at Web 2.0 Expo here in New York City. I've posted my presentation and answers to all the online questions on the Webmaster Center Blog at Live Search.

• Q&A - http://blogs.msdn.com/webmaster/archive/2008/09/24/web-2-0-expo-seo-for-web-development-presentation.aspx
• Presentation - http://nathanbuggia.com/file.axd?file=Web_20_NYC_2008.pptx

Metrics aggregation and reporting have always seemed to be a part of every job I've had. Over the years I've developed a system that allows me to slice and dice just about anything using Excel, SQL and a little bit of code. I used to rely heavily on the Data Transformation Services in SQL 2000 Enterprise Console, and haven't really found a good replacement (read: free replacement) until today. I just came across this little snippet of SQL that does the trick very well, here's what you do:

1. Create a new table in your database

Create a new table in your database, making sure each column data type is compatible with the corresponding column in your CSV file.

2. Properly format your input CSV file

What every data you want to suck in should be in a standard CSV file format as such. Save the file in a conspicuous location like c:\.

3. Run this script

Finally, execute the following script on your SQL Server. It should locate the CSV file, and import all the rows. Note, if it encounters an error on any single row, it will simply exclude that row in the resulting table. That could be a bit of a problem if you've got a lot of data.

This script seems to work in SQL Server 2005 and 2008. For more information, check out MSDN's reference material, there seem to be a lot more bells and whistles than I'm using here in this simple example. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188365.aspx

Yes, Microsoft is being trounced. But no, the Apple "marketing machine" not the cause, only a symptom. The real problem is that Apple has a deeper understanding of customers than Microsoft does, and are more efficient at turning that understanding into great products.

Microsoft's first issue that they still think a product’s worth is the sum of it’s discrete features, while Apple sees a product’s worth as the ability to solve a customer’s problem soup-to-nuts. Microsoft will include a feature even if it doesn’t really work (you know, MSFT gets it right on v3), but Apple will only include technologies that work well together out of the box. Think of iPod+iTunes vs. MSFT’s WinCE + “Plays for sure” program.

The second issue is that anyone can deliver the functionality these days (think Linux). Customers want more, they’ve gone up to the next level on Maslow’s fundamental needs:

• Level 1 = functionality must work
• Level 2 = it works and makes me feel good
• Level 3 = works, I feel good and it is beautiful

Which level are your products in? And what about your competitors? Are you going to be an Apple or a Microsoft?

I would like to thank everyone for attending my session at this year's TechEd Developer conference in Orlando, FL. Below I've included a link to my slides, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. This is very similar to the Mix08 Advanced SEO Presentation I gave a few months ago at Mix08, except I expanded the "Diagnosing SEO issues within your site" section. For a deeper dive on the subject, check out the 3 hour SEO for Web Development workshop Vanessa Fox and I presented on this topic at Web 2.0.

I also recommend you check out the Live Search Webmaster Center for information about how Live Search is crawling your site, news and discussion forums. Have I done enough shameless plugging yet?

• Advanced-SEO-Web-Development-TechEd-2008.pptx (5.31 mb)

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