Articles posted on Aug 20, 2012

A problem faced by web data extractor software is similar to one faced by automatic phone dialers.

When automatic phone dialers first became available, their usefulness was limited due to the delay in receiving a dial tone when the phone line was initially engaged.
By the time the line was ready, the dialer had already entered a few digits, causing it to consistently fail. A similar premature extraction can occur when scraping
data from web sites.
To overcome this, a Wait Script is necessary when an AJAX Callback is unable to successfully retrieve data due to the webmaster's use of a transitional word or phrase (typically a blinking “Loading...”) to tell the user the content is rendering. Visual Web Ripper confuses this for the actual data and extracts that unwanted text.
Remember good things come to those who wait. Follow these steps to have Visual Web Ripper extract the ...

For a web page harvester, CAPTCHA technology creates an obstacle that slows your progress. CAPTCHA is the human detection software that requires web site visitors to enter a correct string of words, letters, or numbers stretched, squished, and often obscured by dots. While this makes web page harvesting rather difficult or impossible, for Visual Web Ripper, it simply adds an extra step. There are two types of CAPTCHA protection: semi-automatic and full-automatic. The semi-automatic version requires the manual decoding of CAPTCHA images while running a project. Full-automatic data scraping is costly and requires an account with a third-party CAPTCHA recognition service, but there's no manual decoding.

CAPTCHA Data Extraction

The following is required for a successful CAPTCHA processing. The text in bold is required only for the Full-Automatic Data Extraction:
1.1. Add a content element ...

You may have seen headlines about Twitter’s new logo, but that’s not the only reason they’re making the news. A recent study in the UK by branded3 proves that Twitter can boost a website’s Google Ranking. A high Google ranking means more people will find you when they need you, which translates to more sales for your company.

The study found a “strong correlation between the amount of tweets about a URL, and its Google ranking.” You can read about the entire study here, but the key findings were:

URLs receive a significant boost when shared on Twitter

Average Google ranking improves considerably after 5,000 tweets

URLs with more than 7,500 tweets almost always rank inside the top five results

What does this mean for your company? Simple. Get people to tweet about you. OK, maybe it’s not so simple. Getting people to tweet your website URL ...

AJAX is the what makes web sites interactive. It stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. Based on the xmlHttpRequest function, it allows the website to contact the server and retrieve data (referred to as an “AJAX Callback”) without reloading the web page. In one simplified example, it stops that flicker when you hit the “Submit” button, giving the website a more streamlined feel. Because of this, web sites have gotten complicated and web mining has as well. Visual Web Ripper is still able to work through this process, although code navigation is necessary.

How To

Before starting, you must tell Visual Web Ripper the changes that will occur on the website. To keep data from being extracted prematurely, VWR will need to wait for the callback to finish.

To have a successful template when working with AJAX, go to Options and click the AJAX or JavaScript radio ...

If you have a business or a website online and you ever wished there was an easier way to "extract" content, emails, or links from a web page, you will be happy to know there is. A lot of people do this by hand, which could take anywhere from a few days to weeks on end. The only reason they do it by hand is simply because they are not aware of Visual Web Ripper software. This program works very quickly and is very simple.

The Goal

The whole goal to buying something like a web ripper is to extract information. Plain and simple. It can be for email lists, phone numbers, URLs, people's names, products, search results and much more.

The Features

Depending on the program you use, you will obviously have different features. For something like Visual Web Ripper, you can find features such as: Very user friendly visual project designer, Extract complete data structures, such as ...

By : Jack Fraser

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This might be something you’ve heard from Agency Entourage before but I feel that it’s always good to get back to the basics.

Blogging has great potential to bring discovery and exposure to your company. It is a crucial tactic of any online marketing campaign. It benefits website exposure and links your social media and email marketing efforts. In addition, it is an easy way to let your customers get to know you and your business.

Here are some strategies to keep in mind when writing your blog:

Get to Know Your Fans

Fans is a great word to use because your readers are truly rooting for you. They read your blog because they are genuinely interested in what you have to say. They consider you a great resource and look forward to your next posting. The beauty of blogging is your accessibility. You can easily communicate with your fans.

Establish ...

Web data harvesting is a process of gathering data from the Internet for use in a database or directory. It is also considered to be a form of research done via the web for obtaining data in a required format. A web harvester is one of the tools used to gather the required data. It enables users to collect the desired information from the web pages and extract it in a meaningful or usable format. Web harvesters use a variety of techniques and technologies to accurately extract, capture, mine or acquire the XML or text-based information.

Benefits of Web Harvesters

It is no secret that the Web contains an abundance (some would say an over-abundance) of information and meaningful data. There is also no end to number of uses there are for this information. The problem inherent in this is the data on the various sites is presented in a variety of ways, without any consistency to form ...

By : Natalie Greenway

As of today, I’ve officially been working full time at Agency Entourage for six months. This time last year, May 22, 2011 to be exact, I started as an intern and eventually worked my way through the ranks.

After interning for a summer and later becoming a full time staff member, I’ve had the chance to work with the Agency Entourage team in different capacities. I’ve also had the opportunity to learn about each of the services we offer as a social media marketing agency as both an outsider and an Interactive Producer.

If there is one thing I have learned in the past year, it’s that Agency Entourage is a marketing agency unlike any other. From the office environment, to the office decor, to the office events, Agency Entourage definitely sets the bar pretty high.

Here are a few of our company’s highlights:

Company culture: At Agency ...

By: Natalie Greenway

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Whether you’re just tuning in to the social media world, you know enough of the basics to get by, or you consider yourself a guru, I think it is safe to say we can all learn a little something from this Social Media Score Card.

From social media platform front runners, to the up and coming, to the break through sites, this really does cover all the need-to-know stats about the social media platforms we all know and love:

Did you see a platform on here that sparked your interest? Maybe you have heard of it but have yet to start using it?

If you’re ready to take your company or brand to the next level in the Dallas, Texas social media marketing world, Agency Entourage is here to help you do just that. From social marketing, to blog communications, to email marketing, to development, our capabilities cover it all.

Visit our website or contact us ...

By: Aaron Fuqua

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This week Twitter-Celebrity Ashton Kutcher, who previous to this incident seemed to be quite the social media savant, put his foot in his mouth when he tweeted his support of now-defamed Penn State football coach, Joe Paternio.

In case you have been living on Mars, under a rock, with your fingers in your ears, Penn State’s football’s team has been undergoing a bit of a scandal recently. And on Wednesday, head coach and football icon Joe Paterno was fired by the University for his inaction in informing the proper authorities about alleged sexual abuse of a child by his former defensive coordinator.

That is when Charlie Sheen’s new replacement on Two and a Half Men expressed condemnation of the university’s decision and touted his support of the beleaguered coach. Hardly a popular stance considering the situation. In his apologetic ...