There are two kinds of online search results:  organic and paid results.  So what is the difference between the two? 

Paid results are those that require a fee for the search engine to list your website in the results.  The most popular form is the pay-per-click (PPC) where you pay every time someone clicks on your website link.  The price for each click increases as the keywords get more competitive.  Google Adwords is one popular form of paid search.  In Google, the paid search results will appear at the top of the search results and they’ll be labeled “Sponsored Links”.  So what is the advantage of paying for results?  Your website link will have immediate online business exposure.

Organic results are put together by search engines and ranked according to relevance to the search queries.  This relevance is calculated by factors such as keyword match and the number of sites linking to the website.  There are many advantages of being listed under the organic results.  These results cost nothing.  Organic results are listed based on the search engines measurement of relevance and quality of the website.  Also, organic results actually get more traffic.  Most people click on organic results as opposed to paid results.  Your website link will also get longer lasting rank.  Search engines record your ranking history helping your website rank highly in the future.  Search engines also reevaluate your rank every few weeks or months. 

So what is the best fit for your business?  If you want immediate online exposure, then the paid results would be the answer.  However, do keep in mind the advantages of organic results.

Nine months ago Google launched Google’s Chrome browser which is intended for people who spend a lot of time on the internet.  Today more than 30 million people use it on a regular basis.  Google recently announced an extension to Chrome browser which is Google’s Chrome Operating System.  The operating system is an open-source, lightweight OS that is initially going to be targeted at netbooks.  It will be available to the public the second half of 2010. 

“Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds”, Google stated.  Google wants the operating system to be simple to use “so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware and security updates. It should just work.”

This announcement by Google could change the market for operating systems.  Microsoft, right now is the biggest operating system player with 90% of the market share.  Will it work?  We will see if Microsoft’s market share decreases as Google Chrome OS comes out next year.

One of the biggest changes in Microsoft Office 2010 which is being released in the first half of 2010 is the addition of the browser-based version.  Microsoft plans to offer the browser-based version of its Office productivity suite called Office Web.  Office Web will include online version of PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and OneNote.  The web version will allow sharing and real-time collaboration of documents and files.  Users will be able to retrieve their documents on any computer.  Also, multiple people can work on a document at the same time.  A lightweight version of Office Web is going to be free in Windows Live for the 400 million users of the Windows Live service.  By doing this, Microsoft hopes to compete with Google’s free online Google Docs Suite.

Some other new features of Office 2010 is that it will come in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.  Also, Word, and other programs, will have a paste preview tool which will allow the user to hover over different paste options and see what the paste will look like before accepting the actual paste.  PowerPoint will have a video editing feature and also it will have the ability to create a video of a presentation including voice.  Excel will get a new feature called Sparklines, which are tiny graphs that fit in one cell of a spreadsheet.

The Office bundles that Microsoft sells is also being simplified.  You’ll have three choices: Home Office and Student, Home Office and Business, and Office Professional.  Home Office and Student includes OneNote, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.  Home Office and Business adds Outlook.  Office Professional includes everything plus the Access Database and Publisher.  Pricing on the bundles has yet to be decided.

Last week I wrote about Google Health, a great tool that lets you organize your medical information online.  Well today, I’ll be writing about Microsoft’s HealthVault.   HealthVault does many of the same things but I found it to be more comprehensive and with more information and online tools. 

HealthVault lets you easily create an account and add records for each member of the family.  HealthVault makes it easy to import the medical records from health providers directly into HealthVault.  You can click here to see a list of health and fitness websites that connect with HealthVault.  You can share your medical information with whoever you want and you decide what information they can and can’t see.

HealthVault connects with many health and fitness devices such as weight scales, pedometers, heart rate monitors, blood pressure monitors and more.  (Click here for a complete list of compatible devices.)  Once you set up an account and download a program called HealthVault Connection Center you’ll be able to upload data from these devices into HealthVault and track your progress overtime and even share this information with your doctor.

One of the functions that I really liked is Health Solutions.  Health Solutions is designed for your to set and reach your health and fitness goals.  You can choose from weight solutions, fitness solutions, blood pressure solutions, in case of emergency solutions, and organization solutions.  In weight solutions, for example, you can track your steps with a pedometer, track your diet, track your exercise session, set your goals, and chart your progress overtime. 

If you would like to learn more, or want get started using HealthVault click here.