With the January 2010 issue, ZooNews celebrates its 50th birthday edition. We look pretty good for our age, I think! A warm welcome to all new readers, and to my longtime subscribers, thank you so much for your continued readership and valued feedback.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a realm still mysterious to many business owners and even some Web professionals. On their Webmaster Central Blog, Google has put together a collection of SEO resources for beginners that's well worth a look. Featuring their PDF starter guide, a video on search-engine friendly Web development, and a primer on verifiying your site using Google Webmaster Tools, the article provides an excellent overview of SEO basics. Check it out here.

Another good piece from Becky Jones called Google is Changing and it Will Affect Your Site looks at some features recently added to Google's search results, from new tools in the search bar to the personalization of results.

It's a brand new year and (according to most) a brand new decade, so it's out with the old and in with the new, right? Well... not always. According to Lake Superior State University, some new-fangled words are better off buried. Their 2010 Banished Words List includes several tech terms they wish would be dropped from the English language due to "Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness."

• "To friend" as a verb – and its emotionally fraught corollary “to unfriend” (not to mention friending, friended, and all other permutations of this Facebook-popularized expression).
• Tweet – and all its tweet/twit-variations: twittersphere, twitterature, twitterverse, retweet, etc. As an active Twitter participant I have to admit I don't personally mind many of those. On the other hand, the term "tweep" does get on my nerves, as in "Yo, tweeps, what's up?"
• App – is there an app for making the word "app" go away?
• Sexting – a portmanteau popular among the young and smartphone-engrossed.

Got a technology term you'd like demystified in ZooNews? Send it to questions@zoonini.com.

I'm tremendously pleased to announce that we've launched the companion site for the upcoming book Lonely: A Memoir, by Emily White. Working on a tight deadline to accommodate the book's impending publication in Canada and the US, we designed a site that incorporates elements of both editions, since the covers in each country are different.

Running on the open-source WordPress platform, we built the site to be easily updateable by the author, who can add news about upcoming readings, book signings, and media appearances, as well as reviews and blog updates on all aspects of loneliness – from animal-assisted therapy, to the stigma of loneliness. We wish Emily all the best with the launch of her new book and hope that the site is a helpful tool in its ongoing promotion!

Following the success of WordPress for GirlGeeks, a workshop Shannon Smith and I gave back in November, we're delighted to be adapting our presentation for WordCamp Toronto at the end of March. If you're a WordPress beginner, whether a blogger, Web designer or developer, our session WordPress for Newbies will offer useful tips on harnessing the platform's power – without becoming overwhelmed. Other sessions at the event will cover more advanced WordPress topics. The cost to register for the day-and-a-half conference is a very reasonable $35.00, with the full schedule to be unveiled soon.

À la prochaine,

kp
aka Kathryn Presner