Kimono Is A Smarter Web Scraper That Lets You “API-ify” The Web, No Code Required

A new Y Combinator-backed startup called Kimono wants to make it easier to access data from the unstructured web with a point-and-click tool that can extract information from webpages that don’t have an API available. And for non-developers, Kimono plans to eventually allow anyone track data without needing to understand APIs at all.

This sort of smarter “web scraper” idea has been tried before, and has always struggled to find more than a niche audience. Previous attempts with similar services like Dapper or Needlebase, for example, folded. Yahoo Pipes still chugs along, but it’s fair to say that the service has long since been a priority for its parent company.

But Kimono’s founders believe that the issue at hand is largely timing.

“Companies more and more are realizing there’s a lot of value in opening up some of their data sets via APIs to allow developers to build these ecosystems of interesting apps and visualizations that people will share and drive up awareness of the company,” says Kimono co-founder Pratap Ranade. (He also delves into this subject deeper in a Forbes piece here). But often, companies don’t know how to begin in terms of what data to open up, or how. Kimono could inform them.

Plus, adds Ranade, Kimono is materially different from earlier efforts like Dapper or Needlebase, because it’s outputting to APIs and is starting off by focusing on the developer user base, with an expansion to non-technical users planned for the future. (Meanwhile, older competitors were often the other way around).

The company itself is only a month old, and was built by former Columbia grad school companions Ranade and Ryan Rowe. Both left grad school to work elsewhere, with Rowe off to Frog Design and Ranade at McKinsey. But over the nearly half-dozen or so years they continued their careers paths separately, the two stayed in touch and worked on various small projects together.

One of those was Airpapa.com, a website that told you which movies were showing on your flights. This ended up giving them the idea for Kimono, as it turned out. To get the data they needed for the site, they had to scrape data from several publicly available websites.

“The whole process of cleaning that [data] up, extracting it on a schedule…it was kind of a painful process,” explains Rowe. “We spent most of our time doing that, and very little time building the website itself,” he says. At the same time, while Rowe was at Frog, he realized that the company had a lot of non-technical designers who needed access to data to make interesting design decisions, but who weren’t equipped to go out and get the data for themselves.

With Kimono, the end goal is to simplify data extraction so that anyone can manage it. After signing up, you install a bookmarklet in your browser, which, when clicked, puts the website into a special state that allows you to point to the items you want to track. For example, if you were trying to track movie times, you might click on the movie titles and showtimes. Then Kimono’s learning algorithm will build a data model involving the items you’ve selected.

That data can be tracked in real time and extracted in a variety of ways, including to Excel as a .CSV file, to RSS in the form of email alerts, or for developers as a RESTful API that returns JSON. Kimono also offers “Kimonoblocks,” which lets you drop the data as an embed on a webpage, and it offers a simple mobile app builder, which lets you turn the data into a mobile web application.

For developer users, the company is currently working on an API editor, which would allow you to combine multiple APIs into one.

So far, the team says, they’ve been “very pleasantly surprised” by the number of sign-ups, which have reached ten thousand*. And even though only a month old, they’ve seen active users in the thousands.

Initially, they’ve found traction with hardware hackers who have done fun things like making an airhorn blow every time someone funds their Kickstarter campaign, for instance, as well as with those who have used Kimono for visualization purposes, or monitoring the exchange rates of various cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and dogecoin. Others still are monitoring data that’s later spit back out as a Twitter bot.

Kimono APIs are now making over 100,000 calls every week, and usage is growing by over 50 percent per week. The company also put out an unofficial “Sochi Olympics API” to showcase what the platform can do.

The current business model is freemium based, with pricing that kicks in for higher-frequency usage at scale.

The Mountain View-based company is a team of just the two founders for now, and has initial investment from YC, YC VC and SV Angel.

Source:http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/18/kimono-is-a-smarter-web-scraper-that-lets-you-api-ify-the-web-no-code-required/

Google Places and Your Business Success

Google Places is now a crucial element to your business's online success, but did you know it? Have you even heard of this significant marketing website? Many new and even existing business owners have not heard of it, and they are losing out on a lot of potential profit because of it. If you want to get your business to the top of the search engine results and get more customers, then you need this service.

Google Places is a free business listing service run by Google. All you have to do to use it is type the name into Google, fill out the form, and submit your listing. This site will also provide you with free tips on how to make your listing work more for you.

This website was launched in 2009 by Google. It allows business owners to create a business profile, which can have as much contact information as you choose. You can also include pictures, videos, business hours, and even include a mark for your business's physical location on Google Maps. You can use this service even if you don't have a website, and your business can soar to the top of the Google search results with a listing alone. Once people find your listing, they will know what your business is, what it does, and how to contact you. What could be better?

Not only is Google Places a great listing service, it is also interactive. Users can leave reviews of your business for other people to see. This will help people decide if you are a business they can trust, and the more reviews you get, the closer to the top of the search engine results your listing will be. In order to encourage customers to leave a review, simply send them an email asking them to do so. You can use an auto responder to do this automatically for new customers.

You'll also want to make sure the contact information you list in other business directories online is accurate, as Google Places scrapes information from these other sites. You don't want inaccurate information appearing in your listing! Finally, be sure to use the proper keywords to describe your business in your listing. Think of what words potential customers may type into Google when searching for your particular product or service, then use those words in your business description. It will help you get closer to the top of the search engine listings and allow your customers to find you more easily.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?Google-Places-and-Your-Business-Success&id=5781751

How to Seamlessly Include Keywords in Your Web Content

If you're a newbie to internet marketing, you might be wondering, "What the heck is keyword optimization?" It sounds more complex than it is. Basically, keyword optimization is making sure your content contains enough instances of your keywords, which are words or phrases commonly used in search engines to find what you offer. For example, if you're selling real estate in Florida, your keywords may be "florida real estate," "jacksonville florida real estate," "orlando homes for sale," "palm beach houses for sale," etc.

You can find keywords by using keyword research tools and analyzers. This is software that tells you each of the combinations used with a particular keyword, along with how many times the original keyword and its combinations have been used. You can either use paid keyword analyzers, or you can use the popular Google keyword research tool, which is offered for free in the Google AdWords toolset.

How do you use a keyword analyzer tool? They're all the same: You enter in the desired keyword and are given a list of results. Paid keyword analyzers return more specific results, while free ones return more basic information. If you find that your keyword receives a lot of visitors--from 20,000 to 30,000 visitors a month for exact matching terms as a minimum--these are the keywords you may want to consider as part of your keyword optimization strategy.

As you review the keywords, think about how you can break them out into logical, related groups. If your site is fairly new, start with the less competitive terms and build out using longer phrases to get some traffic and conversions.

When you've selected your keywords, you're ready to write your content. Here's where the keyword optimization takes shape. What you need to do is repeat your keyword several times throughout your content. Generally, you want your keyword to appear 2 to 5 percent of the time. For example, if you're writing an article of 500 words, you'll want your keyword to appear at least 10 times but no more than 30.

You might be wondering, "What if the nature of my website can't use keywords that often?" This could be the case for websites with a community theme or those promoting more creative content. You'll have to include separate sections that contain optimized content that still relates to your site. For example, if you're running a site related to "fan fiction," you could create articles that talk about how to create fan fiction (with "fan fiction" being the optimized keyword). Try to get content ideas first by asking your community and reviewing logs and analytics, and build keyword lists into your posts from there. You could also include articles that while not relating to fan fiction could still be of interest to your audience. Example keywords could be writing novels, writing movie scripts and self-publishing.

By including optimized content on a website that would otherwise not contain such content, you get the advantage of self-expression while making sure your site gets seen by search engine bots.

As you write your content, make sure it sounds natural and is enjoyable for visitors. Although the goal is to include your desired keyword 2 to 5 percent of the time, if you use it in a context that's inappropriate, you turn away visitors.

Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/231333

Full-Service Litigation Support For Law Firms

Litigation support has become an integral part like legal notices. Organizations worldwide depend on the consultation and support provided to solve their current and pending cases. The services varies from research and documentation of facts and precedents of a case before it is tried in the court to providing assistance in determining damages after the trial. The whole process is highly professional and is conducted by consultants working independently or as a member of a firm that provides litigation support services.

The litigation support consultants help the attorneys focus on the basic aspects of a particular case that is already filed or is about to be filed. After proper understanding of the preliminary data, the consultants then analyze the previous legal actions that are relevant to the case and proceed to do a research on the status of current laws. The process of detailing these data makes huge difference in presenting a case in a court of law.

The basic services provided by litigation firms can be summed up in two steps.

First comes the issuing of Legal Notice: the consultants draft the notice based on the scanned documents of each individual case and on the instructions received from the clients. This action not only saves money and time but also plays an important role as the first step in favor of the case. After the legal notice is issued senior counsels are engaged for conducting cases before the court.

These firms are manned with people experienced in research and criminal science. The consultants focus on the fishing through a plethora of information and competently extracting the useful data out of them. These data plays an important role in the case and often become the deciding factor of the trial.

Litigation support agencies continue to provide their services even after a case is over. In cases when a particular case is lost the litigation support consultants together with the attorneys try to figure out new factors that came out during the trial which can be used for logging an appeal. While in case of a win these agencies help the attorneys in determining the exact process of collection of damages, if any and also assist them in the further legal actions, if required. By providing quality services to clients, litigation support firms have proved themselves as an effective instrument in bailing out people troubled with time or financial constrains.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/?Full-Service-Litigation-Support-For-Law-Firms&id=4440707

How to Write Online Content for SEO, Google and Marketing

The web can be a difficult environment and many professional writers do not understand how to write for it. Three primary rules of writing for the Internet align with the habits of web readers:

1) Be brief; web readers have short attention spans;

2) Readers find content through search engines, so choose words search engines can find;

3) Readers enjoy passing content on to others, so provide links.

Some other important considerations:

The web is a vast universe of unstructured content – On the web, relevance is paramount. With infinite choices, readers will focus only on what matters to them. Design your web content for search engines. In functional terms that means: Write for Google. When you do, your material will be relevant to your website visitors. Plus, they will be able to understand it and “act on it.”

Web users evaluate your words to check for relevance – Flowery, figurative or highly technical words and terms will send readers elsewhere. In traditional media, writers are in charge of the terms they use. Web readers establish what “they think” a particular word or phrase means. Internet readers thus “own” web content and Internet writers do not.

The web is filled with incorrect information – Web readers are skeptical of online content. You must convince quickly them that your content is credible, so include links to respected authorities.

Regularly change and improve your web content – Internet readers expect updated information. Upgrade regularly. Searchers perpetually seek new content, so refresh yours as often as possible. You cannot govern the online reading experience. As a newspaper, magazine or book writer, you can assume that your readers regard your material as relevant. Otherwise, they wouldn’t read it. Web readers may land on your web page randomly, bounced in from search engines or social media referrals. Readers spend less time reading web pages than print pages.

After scanning, online readers give you “an average of three to six seconds to engage them.” If the content doesn’t intrigue them, they hit the back button to chase more relevant material. Offline, you can make an informed guess about the identity of your readers. Online, you haven’t a clue. Your online writing is aimed not at individual readers, but at search engines. That’s how readers find you. Focus on the requirements of interested searchers who seek specific keywords and links.

What about keywords?

For a web writer, keywords – “strings of characters that people enter into search fields” – are mother’s milk. Keywords may be single words, long phrases or “word combinations.”

So-called “long-tail” keywords are highly specific, lengthy phrases. They are designed to draw Internet users with particular interests. To learn about the context of long-tail keywords, visit social media sites, blogs and online forums that are popular with your target audience and your competitors. Identify repeated keywords and phrases. Research keywords using Google Alerts, Yahoo Pipes and Yahoo Alerts. Popular words – or “tags” – that people assign to relevant web content and social media are also helpful.

Pepper your main web page and subsequent pages with keywords that matter. Post the specific purpose of your pages – shopping, support, services and so on – in your website titles and links. Add “a verb to your keyword phrase,” for example, “learn about” or “shop for” or “compare.”

Keyword research is a straightforward process. Brainstorm the “seed words” people might use to find information about your topic. Start with the most generic terms. Create “keyword clouds,” keywords that relate to one another. Google AdWords is a good tool for keyword research. Other tools include Keyword Discovery Tool, Goggle Insights and the Free Keyword List Generator. Wordtracker helps you check your competition. Type your potential keywords into Google’s search box. It will show you “various incremental possible matches for your search string,” each matched by the “hits” or returns for each search phrase.

Creating Great Web Content

Follow this six-step plan to create the most effective web content:

1. Establish exactly who your target audience is.

2. Do keyword research to determine what specific words and phrases your target audience uses to search for relevant web content. Make Google your default search engine for this research.

3. Create a list of “core words” that are most popular with your target audience.

4. Create a web page for each of these words.

5. Routinely test the pages you create for relevance.

6. Adjust your web content to optimize its relevance

Source: http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/write-online-content-seo-google-marketing-0772596#!wIjyT

8 Popular Types of Internet Marketing

The internet has changed the way we do business. In fact, many would agree it's one of the most useful inventions in history. Because of the web and email we can now make our services and products available globally, and we can keep in constant contact with our customers. Internet marketing is an important part of your success online. Here are 8 popular types of internet marketing.

1. PPC - Pay Per Click programs allow you to create an ad that is linked to a keyword(s). You can create as many ads as you want. Google and Yahoo both have pay per click programs. If you aren't familiar with PPC programs, you choose what you are willing to pay per click. The more you pay per click the higher in the search engines your ad will appears. The rate per click can be anywhere from pennies per click to hundreds of dollars per click.

2. SEO - Search engine optimization is a good way to increase the amount of traffic your site gets. In fact, it's a fundamental internet marketing technique. When you SEO your site you will remove all the things that stand in the way of traffic reaching your site. This includes excessive code that the search engines don't like. It also includes having plenty of relevant keywords and then optimize your site pages around those keywords. Each page can be optimized to different keywords.

3. Banner Ads - These ads contain graphics that are colorful, animated, and catchy that will appear across the top or bottom of the web page. There are also vertical ads called sky scrapers which appear either on the right or left side of the page. Whichever type of ad appears on the page these ads will link to another website. In this case the other website is yours. Avoid animated ads. Statistically they are not as effective as ads that are just catchy without motion.

4. Google AdSense - With this program you'll have ads of other websites appear on your site. Each time one of these ads is clicked you'll make money. How much varies depending on the keyword associated with the ad. You can block out your competitors so they don't appear on your site. The flip to this is when you purchase ads which will appear on other websites creating a link back to your site and improving your search engine ranking. These ads are not annoying like some styles like popups. In fact, they can be very effective at generating targeted traffic.

5. Online Magazines - You buy ad space for a fee much like you would for a print magazine. The fee depends on how much traffic the magazine generates. You can do an excellent job of targeting your ads to your desired market.

6. Online Newsletters - Here's a way that lets you develop a relationship between you and your customers. It lets you keep them up to date about changes, new products and services, and it's also a method of providing helpful tips. You can start with your core customer base and include a request for these customers to forward the newsletter to their friends. There should be an opt in and opt out option at the bottom of the newsletter. You can also have an opt in on your website. You'll be amazed at how fast your newsletter grows.

7. Website Lead Generation - These services provide you with qualified leads and you pay a price per lead that's established in the beginning. These companies find potential leads a variety of ways including cold calls. Lead generation services guarantee a return on investment and leaves your staff free to do other tasks.

8. Online Directories - There are all kinds of online directories and city guides, as well as the online yellow pages. You can feature yourself under the appropriate category or area. So for example, if you service the LA area then you could have yourself listed in Los Angeles or if you sell women's fashion then you could be under the fashion category. With most directories a general listing is free and then you can purchase additional advertisements if you like.

This is just 8 popular types of internet marketing. There are plenty of others you can use. In fact, most times the more the better. However, one thing you need to remember is that you don't get the opportunity for personal interaction with the potential customer and so you must make sure you do a good job of portraying your message online.

Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?8-Popular-Types-of-Internet-Marketing&id=1419260

Data scraping tool for non-coding journalists launches

A tool which helps non-coding journalists scrape data from websites has launched in public beta today.

Import.io lets you extract data from any website into a spreadsheet simply by mousing over a few rows of information.

Until now import.io, which we reported on back in April, has been available in private developer preview and has been Windows only. It is now also available for Mac and is open to all.

Although import.io plans to charge for some services at a later date, there will always be a free option.

The London-based start-up is trying to solve the problem of the fact that there is "lots of data on the web, but it's difficult to get at", Andrew Fogg, founder of import.io, said in a webinar last week.

Those with the know-how can write a scraper or use an API to get at data, Fogg said. "But imagine if you could turn any website into a spreadsheet or API."

Uses for journalists

Journalists can find stories in data. For example, if I wanted to do a story on the type of journalism jobs being advertised and the salaries offered, I could research this by looking at various websites which advertise journalism jobs.

If I were to gather the data from four different jobs boards and enter the information manually into a spreadsheet it would take would take hours if not days; if I were to write a screen scraper for each of the sites it would require knowledge and would probably take a couple of hours. Using import.io I can create a single dataset from multiple sources in a few minutes.

I can then search and sort the dataset and find out different facts, such as how many unpaid internships are advertised, or how many editors are currently being sought.

How it works

When you download the import.io application you see a web browser. This browser allows you to enter a URL for any site you want to scrape data from.

To take the example of the jobs board, this is structured data, with the job role, description and salaries displayed.

The first step is to set up 'connectors' and to do this you need to teach the system where the data is on the page. This is done by hitting a 'record' button on the right of the browser window and mousing over a few examples, in this case advertised jobs. You then click 'train rows'.

It takes between two and five examples to teach import.io where all of the rows are, Fogg explained in the webinar.

The next step is to declare the type of data and add column names. For example there may be columns for 'job title', 'job description' and 'salary'. Data is then extracted into the table below the browser window.

Data from different websites can then be "mixed" into a single searchable database.

In the example used in the webinar, Fogg demonstrated how import.io could take data relating to rucksacks for sale on a shopping website. The tool can learn the "extraction pattern", Fogg explained, and apply that to to another product. So rather than mousing over the different rows of sleeping bags advertised, for example, import.io was automatically able to detect where the price and product details were on the page as it had learnt the structure from how the rucksacks were organised. The really smart bit is that the data from all products can then be automatically scraped and pulled into the spreadsheet. You can then search 'shoes' and find the data has already been pulled into your database.

When a site changes its code a screen scraper would become ineffective. Import.io has a "resilience to change", Fogg said. It runs tests twice a day and users get notified of any changes and can retrain a connector.

It is worth noting that a site that has been scraped will be able to detect that import.io has extracted the data as it will appear in the source site's web logs.

Case studies

A few organisations have already used import.io for data extraction. Fogg outlined three.

    British Red Cross

The British Red Cross wanted to create an iPhone app with data from the NHS Choices website. The NHS wanted the charity to use the data but the health site does not have an API.

By using import.io, data was scraped from the NHS site. The app is now in the iTunes store and users can use it to enter a postcode to find hospital information based on the data from the NHS site.

"It allowed them to build an API for a website where there wasn't one," Fogg said.

    Hewlett Packard

Fogg explained that Hewlett Packard wanted to monitor the prices of its laptops on retailers' websites.

They used import.io to scrape the data from the various sites and were able monitor the prices at which the laptops were being sold in real-time.

    Recruitment site

A US recruitment firm wanted to set up a system so that when any job vacancy appeared on a competitor's website, they could extract the details and push that into their Salesforce software. The initial solution was to write scrapers, Fogg said, but this was costly and in the end they gave up. Instead they used import.io to scrape the sites and collate the data.


Source: http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/data-scraping-tool-for-non-coding-journalists-launches/s2/a554002/