June 13, 2011 - New York - VejaTV.com , a video sharing site, broke the 100,000 mark on the  alexa.com internet ranking system, making it the most visited Portuguese language site in the world, outside of Brazil and Portugal. This calculation is based on its’ historical traffic of the last 3 months accumulated by alexa.com an Amazon.com company.  Alexa considers the average page views for each visit and how many unique visitors have entered a website. Though not a 100% perfect tool, it is a benchmark for tracking  Internet marketing accomplishment. It is updated daily and the scale starts at 1 as the highest and most trafficked website.

A related website, Ofio.net, associated with Alexa.com, reduces the data to sites in the Portuguese language located outside of Brasil and Portugal.  Ofio.net collects from the alexa.com database, all sites in the Portuguese language that are created and hosted outside of the original county, such as Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde, etc.  In this manner an advertiser can locate all Brazilian or Portuguese web sites in the United States for their advertising campaign.  

In recent years, advertising strategy has gone though great changes. In the past, advertising on the television station and local community newspapers of a foreign country was enough, but these days as the Internet takes over, these sources are losing their attraction and visitors.  Now is the time for advertisers to change their strategy and tallocate their ad revenues to include web advertising in their yearly budget.

Currently advertisers in the Portuguese language communities are in a quandary: to continue advertising on traditional television and community newspapers or to begin an aggressive Internet campaign.  Their problem is that ((advertisers are easily fooled by an attractive web site, which look and feel as if they are successful, when; in fact, it is all an illusion, similar to the wizard in the Wizard of OZ)).  Only when you can peel away, the fancy artwork and see the activity behind the curtain, will you be able to determine if the website is truly viable and your advertising money will not be thrown away. This is the precise purpose of Ofio.net.  Using Ofio.net, an advertiser is be able to accompany the historical traffic of a specific website and compare it to its competitors enabling an informative choice before depleting  a limited advertising budget.

Ofio.net is an online measure of all the websites based on the historical traffic of the last 3 months by Amazon (alexa.com). It considers the average page views for each visit and how many unique visitors have entered a website. It is updated daily and the scale starts at 1 as  the highest and most trafficked website. vejaTV.com is #1.

For instance, as at 13th of June 2011, Google.com has an Alexa web traffic rank of 1, Facebook.com closely followed Google with a rank of 2 and Youtube.com with an Alexa ranking of 3. It means that the lower your Alexa rating or ranking, the more popular is the website.  Understand clearly that the higher the alexa.com or ofio.net ranking, the worst, in terms of visitors, is the site.

There are some 28,000,000 million web sites listed in Alexa and that number is growing geometrically.  If a site ranks, 24,000,000 it means that there are 24,000,000 web sites ahead of it, and it is considered a negligible web site, as very few visitors have stopped there.  The closer you reach to 100,000 the better your site is.  When it reaches 100,000 it is among the best in the world with significant visitors to make any advertiser happy.

Vejatv.com is the only Portuguese Language site that has reached this historical marker. It is interesting to note that vejaTV.com is also ranked 13,858 in the U.S., 24,631 in Brazil, 13,123 in Miami and  1,564 in New York (on June 13, 2011).

In recent years, advertising strategy has gone though great changes.  In the past, advertising on the television station and local community newspapers of a foreign country was enough, but these days, these sources are losing their attraction and visitors, as the Internet takes over.  Now is the time for advertisers to allocate their ad revenues to include web advertising in their yearly budget.

Alexa.com is an online measure of all websites based on the historical traffic of the last 3 months by Amazon (Alexa.com). It considers the average page views for each visit and how many unique visitors have entered a website. Though not a 100% perfect tool, it is a benchmark for tracking your Internet marketing accomplishment. It is updated daily and the scale starts at 1 – The highest and most trafficked website.

For instance, as at 3^rd of May of April 2011, Google.com has an Alexa web traffic rank of 1, Yahoo.com closely followed Google with a rank of 2 and Facebook.com with an Alexa ranking of 3. It means that the lower your Alexa rating or ranking, the more popular your website.  Understand clearly that the higher your ranking the worst, in terms of visitors, is the site.

There are some 255 million websites as of December 2010. and that number is growing geometrically.  Alexa.com ranks only those sites above approximate 28 million.  So, if a site ranks, 24,000,000 it means that there are 24,000,000 web sites ahead of it, and it is considered a negligible web site, as very few visitors have stopped there.  The closer you reach to 100,000 the better your site is.  When it reaches 100,000 and below, it is among the best in the world with significant visitors to make any advertiser happy.

Why should I care about Alexa Ranking?

Having a good Alexa.com rank is one of the most critical indicator of the viability of your website or blog. The rule of thumb is: the higher ranked on Alexa.com, the more business you receive. Advertisers are willing to pay much more to advertise on websites or blogs on Alexa’s top 100,000 sites. Thus, lower the ranking, the higher the ad earnings.  An Alexa.com ranking also has a major impact on Google search engine results; the lower the Alexa ranking, the higher your site would appear on Google search results.

Also consider this:

1.     Alexa starts showing ranking graph when you get into the top 100k sites..

2.     In the top 100k only 100k sites are there. So it’s quite an achievement.

3.     Alexa sells top 25k, 100k etc. site lists. These lists are a free download. Many companies use these lists; generate business opportunities and buys advertising. If your site is listed, then it may create additional revenue streams for you.

4.     If you have a site with less than 100k Alexa rank then advertisers will buy more space on your website.

      5.     Lack of other easy methods for calculating a website’s traffic by external means is also a reason why Alexa rank is used.

How Do I improve Alexa Ranking?

You can improve your Alexa ranking by following these steps:

1)    Update your site constantly, at least 3-4 articles per week.

2)    Encourage your users to install the Alexa toolbar (It’s safe)

3)    Encourage your website visitors to add a good testimonials on Alexa’s detailed listings page for your website.  

4)    Claim your website on Alexa.com: http://www.Alexa.com/siteowners

5)    Get one of the site widgets from here: http://www.Alexa.com/siteowners/widgets

6)    Exchange links with other relevant sites which had good Alexa ranking.

7)    Get listed on as many search engines as possible by placing a listing in DMOZ. It often takes up to 5 months before you are listed after submission. Even though it takes long, it’s worth the wait because it’s so widely accessed across the Internet.

8)    Do not use bots or any other automated methods because you may actually wind up  losing  rankings easily if Alexa finds out!

Taking these easy steps will make a huge difference in your Alexa ranking. Eventually you will be concerned not only to get visitors, but also to keep them in your site and convert them to customers. Optimize your home page for SEO purposes.  Make it easy of use, and interact. Create a positive user experience.  That’s how you will get visitors to return over and over.

RIO DE JANEIRO: Roberto Carlos and his booming free-kicks seemed to be a distant memory as far as Brazil were concerned but, on the eve of the World Cup, the former Real Madrid player’s name is being mentioned again.

Thirty-seven last Saturday, Roberto Carlos has enjoyed a new lease of life since returning to Brazil to play for Corinthians where he has joined forces with his former Real Madrid and Brazil team-mate Ronaldo.

Last week, he scored against arch-rivals Sao Paulo with one of his trademark free-kicks, helping Corinthians win 4-3.

Roberto Carlos, capped 131 times, was made one of the scapegoats for Brazil’s relatively early exit in 2006 where they lost to France in the quarter-finals and, like Ronaldo and Cafu, he has not been picked since then.

However, a dearth of obvious choices for the leftback position and his return to form have seen the media speculating on a possible recall.

“I think that, of the 16 years I played for the national team, 12 of them were successful,” Roberto Carlos told Brazilian media last week. “And, today it’s difficult to find a leftback.

“Most of the left-footed players prefer to play on the wing or the left side of midfield.”

Dunga, who played alongside Roberto Carlos in the 1998 World Cup team, is not prone to tinkering but leftback is one position where he has chopped and changed.

Since he took over following the 2006 World Cup, he has fielded Gilberto, Marcelo, Adriano Correa, Juan Maldonado and Richarlyson without settling on any of them.

Fenerbahce’s Andre Santos had a run of eight games in a row last year, appearing to have clinched the place, but the last three friendlies have seen Lyon winger’s Michel Bastos take on the role.

Michel Bastos, who like Roberto Carlos can hit the target from distance, is known in French football as a winger, but he began his career in left back. “If the Brazilian confederation’s fax arrives at home, I will somersault with happiness,” said Roberto Carlos.

“I don’t want to jump the queue. I’m 37 and when I came back to Brazil, I wasn’t thinking about the national team.

“But I’m not going to deny that the World Cup is not in my mind. I’m going to keep working hard at Corinthians and put a doubt in Dunga’s mind.” — Reuters

MIAMI (Mar. 27, 2010) –  A Brazilian boxer is the new unbeaten middleweight boxing sensation, Michael Oliveira  known as the “Chairman of the Board” with 11-0, 9 KOs, has been selected as the winner of the Brazilian International Press Award’s 2009 Athlete of the Year Award.

Michael Oliveira is only 19 years old, a student at Miami Dade Community College and  lives in Miami. ((Many in the  Brazilian boxing circles believe that he is the heir apparent to retired boxing legend Acelino “Popo” Freitas)). From a group of only 10 nominated Brazilian athletes, Michael was the leading vote-getter which  included Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, as well as NBA players Nene Hilario and Anderson Varejao.

“I was honored just to be nominated, never mind selected, as the winner of this prestigious award,” Oliveira said. “I’d like to thank all my fans for supporting me with their votes.  I represent all of the Brazilians living back home as well as those in the United States. Brazil is always No. 1 in my heart. We take all sports, especially boxing, serious but no matter what the final results, it always ends with Samba music and partying. I’m only 19 and hopefully I can win this award again for years to come.”

The hard-hitting teenager, who is the reigning UNBC Latin champion, won every one of his eight fights last year, and he hopes to be back in the ring in late April.

Since the wildly popular Freitas, 4-time world champion, hung-up his gloves for the final time nearly two years ago there has been a distinct vacuum in Brazilian boxing. It appears that 19-year-old Oliveira is being set-up to replace Freitas in the minds of passionate Brazilian boxing fans in South America as well as those in the United States.

Oliveira,  who lives and fights out of Miami, is different than most other professional boxers who generally rise from an underpriveledged background.  Oliveira was raised in an affluent family, had all the beneifits his parents were able to provide  and is currently attending Miami Dade Community College.

Oliveira’s interest in boxing is almost hereditary. His grandfather, Joao Oliveira, an amateur boxer sparred a few times with Brazil’s all-time greatest boxer, 3-time world bantamweight and featherweight champion Eder “Golden Bantam” Jofre (72-2-4, 50 KOs/1957-1976).

Ironbound, NJ-  March 16, 2010 -The opening of the Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ has filled the air with excitement all over New Jersey. In the Ironbound section of Newark New Jersey were Brazilians and Portuguese live, residents in every street corner are talking about the New York Red Bull and the upcoming game against Santos FC, who will be featuring Brazilian mega star Robinho in the starting 11. The Red Bulls kicks off their first season in their new 25,000-seat Red Bull Arena on Saturday night before a full house in a facility that is the top soccer-specific stadium in North America.

Many Ironbound soccer lovers are disappointed to find out that the game is already sold out. But no matter what,  the atmosphere amongst the Red Bull faithful and the local Portuguese and Brazilian community is electric.

At today's Redbull’s 2010 Media Day the winners of the franchise's all-time First XI, as voted on an online fan contest was announced.

The contest, which ran from Thursday, January 28 through Friday, March 5, gave fans the opportunity to cast their vote for the best players in the 15+ years of the franchise, with the First XI team taking the field in a 3-4-3 formation. The honorees as the New York All-Time First XI are:

Goalkeeper: Tim Howard.
Defenders: Jeff Parke, Mike Petke, Eddie Pope.
Midfielders: Youri Djorkaeff, Amado Guevara, Tab Ramos, Dave van den Bergh.
Forwards: Jozy Altidore, Juan Pablo Angel, Clint Mathis.

Current Red Bulls captain and franchise all-time leader in goals scored, Juan Pablo Angel, was the leading vote getter. Petke and Howard had an equal number of votes to tie for second, closely followed by Guevara. Each was the leader at their respective positions.

The complete list of nominees for this all-time team was:
Forwards: Jozy Altidore, Juan Pablo Angel, Rodrigo Faria, Clint Mathis, Giovanni Savarese, Adolfo Valencia, John Wolyniec.
Midfielders: Mark Chung, Youri Djorkaeff , Roberto Donadoni, Eddie Gaven, Amado Guevara, Tab Ramos, Seth Stammler, Dave van den Bergh.
Defenders: Kevin Goldthwaite, Steve Jolley, Carlos Mendes, Jeff Parke, Mike Petke, Eddie Pope.
Goalkeepers: Tim Howard, Tony Meola, Jonny Walker.

"With the opening of Red Bull Arena, we are kicking off a new era in the history of this franchise," stated Red Bull New York Managing Director Erik Stover. "However, we cannot move forward without recognizing the talented players who have played for this franchise in the past, and I could not have imagined a better way to elect this team than by allowing the best fans in MLS to vote on the selections. All of the nominees were worthy, and I am pleased to present the franchise's First XI team."

The team is a founding member of MLS (1996)) and since its founding played its home matches at Giants Stadium, at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey until the end of the 2009 season. The team's headquarters are located in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Over the years there were any  famous team members such as Roberto Donadoni, Lothar Matthäus, Adolfo Valencia, Youri Djorkaeff, Amado Guevara. The team has had its share of famous coaches as well, including American stars Tony Meola, Tab Ramos, Tim Howard, Alexi Lalas (who was also the team's General Manager, for a brief time), Clint Mathis, and Eddie Pope have all played for the team.

Carlos dos Santos, a local resident from nearby Ironbound, New Jersey commented (translated from Portuguese) that he “loves the idea of having the New York Red Bull team so close to his home.”  Carlos first became aware of the team while viewing a video on the website vejatv.com.  From that time, he has been an ardent fan of the team.  “We Brazilians love soccer.  The game is in our blood.”  When asked if he has purchased a season ticket he said “absolutely and also for my two teen age boys.”

Full Season Ticket Plans for the New York Red Bulls' first season at Red Bull Arena are on sale now. Midfield seats in the 100-Level and sideline sections 107, 112, 124 and 128 are all sold out, but good seats are still available. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 1.877.RBSOCCER or log onto www.newyorkredbulls.com.