Monday, September 20, 2010

Google Adwords

Utilizing Google Adwords is one of the vital tools in the internet world if you want to drive traffic to your Webpage. And why do you need to drive traffic to your website? Any website administrator or owner sees the importance of this action since traffic makes any site successful by gaining more profit through advertisement. Still confused? Let us take it one by one. We shall start with a discussion of Google Adwords.

When using the Google search engine there are noticeable listings in the right hand corner of the webpage. All of these listings is identified as Google Adwords. Google presents important texts relative to the ads within the search engine results page. This page is named Sponsored Links. When a searcher keys in a word, the links appear separately thus giving superb exposure of the listed site.

How does it work? Since Google is the most popular and the largest online search engines; it receives approximately 200,000,000 queries everyday. Because of this demand, its web administrators desire to have high ranking on the results of searches it provides. The high ranking can denote a high traffic for a particular website.

The results page of any search engine can really be a great spot for promoters to advertise a service or product using links and ads. Particularly, these are helpful to those ticket items needing maximum exposure for sales. As a result, Google launched Adwords service offering businesses an avenue to advertise their services and products to a targeted audience.

Adwords is a pay per click advertisement which is posted by people who want his or her auctions to be seen by targeted traffic on the site. Through Adwords, the item submitted will be displayed several times but these displays, will only be paid whenever a searcher ticks on the posted ad. Adwords by Google guarantees instant traffic.

How can one use the Google Adwords? An initial step is to acquire an account on Google Adwords Service. Next, you should specify your country and language; this is an important step since your prime motive is to sell. You would not want your product or service be advertised in places where they are not known or they are not being used.

After acquiring an account, you are now ready to make your ad group. This ad group consists of ad designing, keyword selection and determination of the maximum cost you are willing to pay. This also includes bidding for the amount of the ad.

Tag title is the next important thing to consider in Google Adwords. Be sure that your title tag is very captivating since this will be an essential tool in catching the attention of the target audience. As a note, title tags must describe your website accurately and clearly. This must be effective in conveying the message for your audience. Having clear messages can attract qualified leads which can be converted to sales. This can therefore signify the importance of selecting concise keywords.

Keywords must carefully be selected. There are words and phrases that can be adapted to attract more prospects. Using different words, derivatives and misspellings can lead to an increased chance of serving your ad on the website.

After deciding on a title tag for your ad, cost must be considered next to have maximum exposure. For each campaign, it is recommendable to have daily budget that is affordable and suitable. Usually, the charges are agreed upon by the client and a webmaster or administrator. Normally, a pay per day amount is considered; for example, a trading assistant who takes care of the selling of peoples stuff agrees on a $10 a day or $300 for one month listing. Generally, the charge can be as low as a dollar a day. The amount will all depend on the set agreement.

Aside from these steps, there are a few mistakes that are overlooked. These can be considered to be a profitable website. One of the mistakes is bidding on a few wrong keywords, thus missing the right ones. Another mistake is unawareness on the keywords and ads that convert web users to sales and which ones aren't profitable.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Traffic engineering

Traffic engineering is a branch of civil engineering that applies engineering techniques to ascertain the safe and efficient movement of people and goods. It concentrates mainly on research and construction of the immobile infrastructure necessary for this movement, which includes roads, railway tracks, bridges, traffic signs and traffic lights.

Increasingly however, instead of building more infrastructure, dynamic elements are also introduced into road traffic management (they have long been used in rail transport). These use sensors to measure traffic flows and automatic, interconnected guidance systems (for example traffic signs which open a lane in different directions depending on the time of day) to manage traffic, especially in peak hours. Also, traffic flow and speed sensors are used to fish out problems and alert operator, so that the cause of the congestion can be determined and measures can be taken to minimize delays. These systems are generically called intelligent transportation systems.

The relationship between lane flow (Q, vehicles per hour), maximum speed (V, kilometers per hour) and density (K, vehicles per kilometer) is Q = KV. Observation on limited access facilities suggests that up to a maximum flow, speed does not decline while density increases, but above a critical threshold, increased density reduces speed, and beyond a further threshold, increased density reduces flow as well.

Therefore, managing traffic density by limiting the rate that vehicles enter the highway during peak periods can keep both speeds and lane flows at bottlenecks high. Ramp meters, signals on entrance ramps that control the rate at which vehicles are allowed to enter the mainline facility, provide this function (at the expense of increased delay for those waiting at the ramps).

Highway safety engineering is a branch of traffic engineering that deals with minimizing the frequency and severity of crashes. It uses physics and vehicle dynamics, as well as road user psychology and human factors engineering, to minimize the influence of factors that add to crashes.

Traffic engineering is closely associated with other disciplines:

* Transport engineering
* Highway engineering
* Transportation planning
* Urban planning
* Human factors engineering

Monday, June 21, 2010

What is SEO

Search engine optimization is the activity of improving the volume and quality of real time traffic to web pages or whole sites from search engines via natural search results for targeted keywords. Most often a website that gets a higher position or ranking in the search results is the one which the searchers will visit more frequently. Therefore, it is important that a site is optimized to get real time traffic the right way to make it more search-engine friendly and get a higher rank in the search results.

Though SEO helps in boosting real time traffic to a website, it should not be considered as the marketing of the site. It may be easy for one to pay and appear in the paid search results for a set of keywords, however, the concept behind the SEO technique is to get the topmost ranking without paying since your site is relevant to the search query entered by the user.

The amount of time that can be spent on optimizing a website to get real time traffic can range from a few minutes to a long term activity. If your product or service is such that the keywords used are uncommon, then some general SEO would be sufficient to get a top rating. However, if your product or service industry is competitive or is in a saturated market, then it is important to dedicate considerable amount of time and effort for SEO. Even if one decides on simple SEO solutions, it is necessary to understand how search engine algorithms work and which items are crucial in SEO to get real time traffic.

The marketing approach that SEO adopts for increasing a site’s relevance is consideration of how search engines work and what searches are performed by users. The SEO process attempts to concentrate its efforts on a site’s coding, presentation, structuring, and also resolving issues that prevent search engine indexing program from spying a website entirely.

Additionally, SEO efforts also include inserting unique content to web pages to make it more attractive to users and also to ensure that the search engine robots can easily index the content. Optimizing a site to get real time traffic can either be done by in house personnel or outsourced to professional optimizers who carry out SEO projects as a stand-alone service, like us - SEO Traffic Spider.

Organic SEO

Today online advertising has become one of the most basic mediums to promote a business and make your presence felt in the market. The need of the hour is to draw customers to your website by creating successful campaigns coupled with unique ideas and quality products and services.

Since the concept of online business has taken a front foot in the competitive market, it is important for businesses to realize that they need to dedicate their time and efforts more towards website advertising and marketing.

You may be in a quandary as to which technique to employ for advertising your website. First, before you employ any technique to promote your site, the golden rule is to clearly define goals that you wish to achieve. This will guide you in selecting techniques more appropriately and help you maximize your results within your budget.

Regarding the techniques, there are two options that have gained a lot of popularity in the recent times. These are:

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engine optimization is the activity of improving the volume and quality of real time traffic to your site by optimizing your web pages. The SEO technique involves getting the topmost ranking without paying since your site is relevant to the search query entered by the user.

Pay Per Click (PPC)
This is an advertising model which requires an advertiser to pay when a user clicks on the ad. Advertisers select keywords that they want to run on and which are relevant to their business and then bid on these keywords. Bids may vary from keyword to keyword depending on how important and relevant the keyword is for the business. The advertiser’s ad shows under the sponsored links when a user types in a search query which matches the advertiser’s keyword.

Many times some commercial websites make use of both these options simultaneously to advertise their website. This is also a smart option as it not only leads to better website exposure and visibility but also ensures a better ranking and real time traffic to your site. However, gaining a better understanding of both these methods by analyzing their pros and cons can help you gauge which technique would be more suitable for you and is in align with your business objectives.

Search Engine Optimization Pros

More Credibility – By showing on top of search results you can enjoy more credibility because real time traffic and popularity is achieved by putting in lot of time and effort. The ranking is achieved purely on the basis of quality content and relevance.

Free Placement – Unlike PPC, you do not have to pay for the clicks you receive from organic search results. Getting on the top position is a matter of how well you optimize your site in relation to your competitors. It also saves you money in the long run once the process takes off well.

Improved Website Ranking –SEO also helps you attain a better site ranking with little effort. You can also hire SEO professionals like SEO Traffic Spider who can carry out the optimization task on your behalf which will reap you the benefits in the long run.

Qualified Traffic – You can expect a good amount of qualified real time traffic to your site as a result of increased recognition of search engines.

Long Lasting Results – The results you achieve from this method are more lasting and stable. Also, it gives you a much higher return on your investment. This is because usually users tend to click on organic search results when compared to PPC ads and this brings more traffic for less.

Search Engine Optimization Cons

Time Consuming – SEO is a complicated task and requires enormous amount of time and effort to implement it the right way. Sometimes it may also require you to completely modify the structure, layout, presentation, or content of your website to make it search engine friendly and also enhance user experience.

Results May Take Time – The true impact of SEO efforts cannot be known immediately. It will not give you instant results in terms of traffic and may take some time for your site to get the desired traffic. This time gap may affect your profitability till the time you start seeing true results.

Get Traffic Online

Get Free Traffic Online?...How To Get Free Traffic Online?...What Is Free Traffic Online?...These are the common queries internet marketers must know in order to reach the top of their game. There is tons of systems out there, teaching you marketing from A to Z but often times this leads you to confusions and at the end of the day, it seems to fail you and your money making business. The real issue at hand is finding software that allows you to obtain highly targeted and traffic that converts into money with zero cost. I did a lot of research on these questions as it pertains to: Get Free Traffic Online? How to get Traffic Online? What is Free Traffic Online? And I know and understand how you desire to get targeted traffic for your websites especially with zero investment. That's why with my initiative, I decided to create new software that is free of charge.

If you want to get Traffic Online then you would typically need to do a few things such as ppc, seo, etc. These methods is costly and can be very time consuming, especially if you're doing seo work on your own. When someone first comes online to start a business, they need targeted traffic. This is what we all desire and need in order to succeed online.

Without traffic, you are not in business but just a body in space. You need to get in the game and to win at this game, it requires highly targeted, highly converting traffic and viral traffic is better. Viral traffic is traffic that exponentially grows over time and continues to grow to a point where you get so much traffic that traffic is never a problem again.

I have tried all the strategies on how to get traffic online and spend a lot of money and nothing to show for it. I needed free traffic online and needed it now, so I came up with a system that gives you what you need in the form of traffic online.

Nothing in life is free, it's either you'll spend a lot of money or consume a lot of time and I understand in these economic crisis that an investment of thousands is not the answer for most. When you see what I put together and apply the software within then you will get free traffic online that will come to you like a tidal wave out of control. That's the power of viral traffic and that's just one cool feature of many within this powerful free traffic online system.

The secret is taking action and putting your focus on a few things, typically one or two at the most. I have seen too many people get that deer in headlight look because they have too much information and no real direction on how to apply it.

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/get-traffic-online-for-your-website-2030165.html#ixzz0rXTPyFxs
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

Strategies in SEO

Today almost all the businesses are looking to increase their ROI from their website. With that, they are also looking at ways and methods by which they can increase their website traffic and maximize their online presence.

The 5 strategies listed in this article will help you in not only optimizing your website for increasing your customers but also improving the cash flow from your website. The information that is summarized below will help you in getting immediate results for your business.

Strategy 1: Setting Your Goals
A website without a goal is like shooting a bullet in the dark. Just as the bullet looks for a target, so do Internet Marketers needs to prioritize their goals as to what they expect from their website. Most of the Internet Marketers have primarily 2 goals in mind:

1. Building quality leads, and
2. Increasing the number of leads.

In order to achieve the above, it is important that your website is crafted in such a way that it can encompass the following:

Attention: Your website should be well designed and contain valuable and informative content that can attract more and more visitors from the search engines.

Interest: Your website should be able to display the advantages of your products and services such that there is an interest in the visitor to know more about your product/service.

Decision: Your website should be able to illustrate to the visitor that by purchasing the respective product/service they would be making a smart decision.

Action: Your website should be able to cut through your competition and ensure that the prospect converts to a customer.

The Power of Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to earn revenue and generate income from your website on the Internet. It works well for people who don’t even have any products to sell! All you have to do is refer other websites that sell products, and you can make money on that. Affiliate marketing is an inexpensive way in which webmasters can make money by directing traffic to an online merchant’s website. If this leads to actual sales in the online merchant’s website, then the webmaster is paid a fixed amount or a percentage based commission.

Affiliate marketing helps in generating more targeted leads, contributes in increasing traffic which eventually leads to greater sales. All in all it increases online exposure of the merchant site which in turn helps the affiliate.

So basically, in layman’s term, what is affiliate marketing? It is basically a process, in which you use your website to refer other websites, i.e., you become their affiliate. In the online world, affiliate marketing works due to the technology involved. The referrals you send to the website you are affiliated can be tracked by online merchants through a special link. And if something is actually purchased through the referral, then you are adequately compensated by it.

Ads of merchant websites are placed on your site when you become their affiliate. A tracking code or number is assigned to you. This is known as the affiliate ID. This is a unique number meant only for you. This ID has to be included in the link that you create from an ad in your website that redirects to the merchant site.

Most merchants allow links to their page in the form of text, images, text ads, banners or a combination of all of these. Some even supply you with advanced forms of linking such as search boxes, virtual stores, storefronts, and data feeds etc.

Beat The Global Recession With SEO

As the world economy experiences a gloomy backdrop and continues to be on the brink of recession, its time to position yourself to a stand where you can still hope to profit from the recession.

There are several options you can consider to rise up in the shrinking economy, but an option that can really show remarkable results in every stage of your business lifecycle is search engine optimization.

SEO offers a platform for corporates, entrepreneurs, as well as individuals to promote their products and services across the web by helping them rank on top of search engines. The real essence of SEO is to ensure that profitable results are achieved regardless of the financial crises broadening and intensifying at every stage and suffocating the global economy.

Amidst all this, the point to focus is the SEO company one might open doors for as their solution provider. It may be a cake walk to hire one in no time, but, definitely not when you have to make sure the genuineness of the company which is a must.

With the right choice of an SEO company to work for you on an ongoing basis, you can expect better search engine rankings, which in turn compliment your SEO efforts with increased traffic. Long term sustainability and profitability are two factors that any company or individual will look forward to, and this is precisely what SEO can achieve if done the right way.

SEO done on a continual basis can help you beat your competition and gain more visibility and exposure by showing on the top of SERPs. Increased visibility creates more awareness about your website or blog and drives more targeted traffic which would otherwise be lost without SEO. Search engine optimization can help you plunge into a more comfortable zone by penetrating your target market and making the most out of your advertising dollars.

Choosing a SEO Friendly Domain Name

Only a few years back, you could be a successful entrepreneur without the need of a website. And the reason for this was very simple, before the nineties there was no Internet! With the introduction of the Internet, things changed drastically. And nowadays, it is impossible to even think of a globally successful enterprise that does not have an online presence. But what is more important is the fact, that just the presence of a visually appealing, information rich and well crafted website is not enough to get your company noticed on the internet. It has to be correctly marketed online through certain procedures so that it is prominently indexed by search engines. This is the primary reason why SEO or Search Engine Optimization has become such an important key to Internet business success.

We all know the importance of search engine rankings these days. Therefore, choosing a SEO friendly domain name means that you have started on the right note in the virtual world. One of the crucial roles in search engine rankings is played by domain names related to keywords that focus on your business and website. It definitely goes a long way in attracting target audience, getting increased conversions and generating business.

The process of choosing the right domain name needs careful considerations and deliberations, when you are thinking of starting a new website. And this is especially important if search engine optimization is going to be the main tool for directing traffic to your website. A SEO friendly domain name is one of the key factors that contribute to the success of the website. Therefore, you have to keep in mind the objective of your website and accordingly choose targeted keywords that you are planning to use to get top search engine rankings for your site. Inserting the main keywords of your business into the URL is a good idea. This is because not only is your website theme kept same throughout but Google, too, looks favorably on it.

Driving traffic to your blog or website

One always wants to drive traffic to their website or blog on a daily basis. This is normally achieved by performing various SEO traffic techniques that help in driving traffic by either doing it yourself or hiring an expert. In the former case, you will end up spending too much time doing it yourself as the processes are time consuming and cumbersome while in the latter case you will save on time but end up spending a lot of money to the provider.

However, there is one technique that can achieve a lot of traffic without having to spend too much or investing a lot of time. Article Writing!

Now the next question that may come to your mind is how does Article Writing drive traffic? It’s quite simple! The Internet comprises of a lot of information and there are millions of visitors, researchers and webmasters who are looking out for content for their blogs and websites. They have a choice where they can either create their own content or search on the Internet for a good quality article which they can utilize easily and quickly. This is exactly where you come in.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Improving website traffic

If you've ever imagine of raking some dollars with your website, there is only one way in which that can be achieved, by improving the website traffic to your website. Sounds simple, but not simple as it appears, and not a complex task either if approached the issue in the way it should be.

In the following paragraphs, we will see few proven methods by which the traffic to a website can be increased manifolds and that without any substantial investment of money or ones own time.

This concept is quite straight forward. Increased traffic to a website or blog to an extent would imply that many people are able to remember the domain name without navigating to your site through the Google search box. Therefore, it is important that in order to draw more people to visit your website, your selected domain name must be simple and unique.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Traffic signs

Traffic signs or road signs are signs positioned at the side of roads to give information to road users. With increasing speed[citation needed] of transport, the tendency is for countries to adopt pictorial signs or otherwise simplify and exemplary signs, to aid international travel where language differences can create barriers and in general to reduce the risks in driving. Such pictorial signs use symbols in place of words and are usually a result of international standards. Such signs were first introduced in Europe, and have been adopted by most countries to varying degrees.

Traffic signs can be classified into several types. For instance, Annexe 1 of the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals (1968), which at 30 June 2004 had 52 signatory countries, defines eight classification of signs:

* A. Danger warning signs
* B. Priority signs
* C. Prohibitory or restrictive signs
* D. Mandatory signs
* E. Special regulation signs
* F. Information, facilities, or service signs
* G. Direction, position, or indication signs
* H. Additional panels

A sign with directions at Guntur, India

In the United States, Canada and Australia signs are categorized as follows:

* Regulatory signs
* Warning signs
* Guide signs
o Street signs
o Route marker signs
o Expressway signs
o Freeway signs
o Welcome Signs
o Informational signs
o Recreation and cultural interest signs
* Emergency management (civil defense) signs
* Temporary traffic control (construction or work zone) signs
* School signs
* Railroad and light rail signs
* Bicycle signs

Friday, June 11, 2010

Getting traffic for your blog

My friend Morris, a professional blogger, asked me for advice the other day. Here's a partial answer, with a few apologies to Swift: (and when you're done with this list, do well to read my post about shark attacks).

1. Use lists.
2. Be topical... write posts that need to be read right now.
3. Learn enough to become the guru in your field.
4. Break news.
5. Be timeless... write posts that will be readable in a year.
6. Be among the first with a great blog on your topic, then encourage others to blog on the same topic.
7. Share your expertise generously so people recognize it and depend on you.
8. Announce news.
9. Write short, pithy posts.
10. Encourage your readers to aid you in the technorati top blog list.
11. Don't write about your cat, your boyfriend or your kids.
12. Write long, definitive posts.
13. Write about your kids.
14. Be snaky. Write nearly libelous things about fellow bloggers, notifying them to respond (with links back to you) on their blog.
15. Be sycophantic. Share link-love and expect some back.
16. Include polls, meters and other eye candy.
17. Tag your posts. Use del.ico.us.
18. Coin a term or two.
19. Conduct email interviews with the well-known.
20. Respond to your email.
21. Use photos. Salacious ones are best.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Doubling website traffic

I created the PC Doctor blog in May of 2005 and for the first three months my web visitors was really low – down in the few hundreds of visitors a day. It was pretty depressing I can tell you and there were times when I was almost discouraged about the whole thing. I knew that the site was in the Google ’sandbox’ and so I either had to keep on plugging at it until it was out or I had to give up.

Luckily, I decided to keep on posting but in the interim I decided that I was also going to do my best to drive traffic to my site manually until Google kicked in. I took a look around at what some of the successful blogs were doing and came up with three tactics that helped to double my website traffic in a month.

1. First, I made the most of Technorati tags. I tagged every keyword in each of my posts. Initially I did this manually but them I discovered a WordPress plugin called SimpleTags that made the job a whole lot easier. I found that by tagging my post effectively they were getting a lot more attention than their untagged counterparts, and as an added advantage I was getting focused, quality traffic to the site!
2. I leveraged my existing website. I’ve been running my business website for a few years and that was getting modest levels of traffic that was relevant to my blog – so why not try to drive some of that to my new blog! I placed a few FeedBurner headline animator blocks on some of my most popular pages and after a day or so I noticed a significant increase in traffic for 5 minutes worth of work on my part.
3. Finally, I made effective use of trackback links to popular sites. If I commented on a post on another site I would make sure that I set up the appropriate trackback for it. The results from this are varied depending on the site and post that you are linking to but since I liked to comment and interact with the wider blogosphere anyway, it was free traffic!

Applying these three simple techniques, I took The PC Doctor blog from a few hundred hits a day into the thousands in less than 30 days. This kept my interest in the site until it came out of the Google sandbox and I started receiving some serious traffic. However, I’m convinced that these actions I took at the origin have helped me create a loyal and targeted readership that continues to help my blog today.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Weather-Related Signal Timing, Charlotte, NC

In North Carolina, the Charlotte Department of Transportation (DOT) manages 615 traffic signals with a computerized control system. In the central business district, the city make use of weather-related signal timing plans at 149 signals to reduce traffic speeds during severe weather. Signal timing also can be employed at more than 350 intersections regulated by closed-loop systems.

System Components: The traffic signal control system comprises signal controllers located at city intersections, a closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance system, twisted-pair cable and fiber-optic cable communication systems, and a signal system control computer in the traffic operations center. Images from more than 25 CCTV cameras on major arterial routes are passed to the operations center and shown on video monitors. Traffic managers can select and download various timing plan patterns (stored in the computer) to field controllers with the aid of the communication systems.

System Operations: System operators assess traffic and weather conditions by observing CCTV video images and reviewing weather forecasts. Forecast data are available through radio and television broadcasts, the Website for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service, and a private weather service vendor. When operators notice heavy rain, snow, or icy conditions, they access the signal computer and manually implement weather-related timing plans. To slow the speed of traffic, these signal timing plans increase the cycle length—which is typically 1minute and 30 seconds—while offsets and splits remain the same. During offpeak periods operators also may select peak-period timing patterns, which are designed for lower traffic speeds.

After establishing the weather-related signal timing plans, operators monitor traffic flow on the roadways. If warranted by field conditions, operators can increase cycle lengths to further reduce traffic speeds. When weather conditions return to normal, operators access the central computer to restore normal time-of-day and day-of-week timing plans.

Transportation Outcome: When weather-related signal timing is engaged, travel speeds decrease by 8 to 16 kilometers per hour (5 to 10 miles per hour). By selecting signal timing plans based on prevailing weather conditions, traffic managers improve roadway safety by minimizing speeds and reducing the probability and severity of crashes.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

What Is Traffic Incident Management?

To minimize the effects of incidents on safety and congestion, traffic incident management is a phenomenon of coordinating the resources of a number of different partner agencies and private sector companies to detect, respond to, and clear traffic incidents as quickly as possible while protecting the safety of on-scene responders and the traveling public. Following history, public safety agencies applied the phrase incident management to the management process used for all types of emergencies from house fires to traffic crashes. After the construction of the interstate system, traffic incident management became critical to transportation agencies because incidents on freeways can trap motorists between interchanges and impede traffic flow and access by emergency vehicles. TIM requires an emergency response operational philosophy—24 hours a day, 7 days a week—which is a normal operating mode for public safety agencies but a new and different one for transportation agencies.
A lot of agencies and private sector companies are involved in TIM. Any single large incident may have dozens of agencies responding to specific needs. Moreso, TIM is not a core function of any one agency, not even the owners of transportation facilities.
Eight major disciplines form the core constituency of traffic incident management: law enforcement, fire and rescue, emergency medical, transportation, towing and recovery, hazardous materials remediation, public safety communications and dispatch, and traffic reporting.
The attempt to clear incidents quickly while providing safety to on scene responders and travelers is one measure of the fortune of a TIM program. The successful on-scene activities are supported by integrated interagency communications. Both the on-scene operations and the integrated communications structure are supported by a collaborative multi-agency structure to resolve institutional modes of operation and procedure issues and to generate the needed resources through a coordinated budgeting process.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Operational Solutions to Traffic Congestion

Making the best of the highways already on course is a very good concept for relieving gridlock.
Traffic congestion occurs during longer portions of the day and delays more travelers and goods than ever before," says The 2004 Urban Mobility Report published by the Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) in September 2004. The TTI report notes that the average annual delay per peak traveler has gone from 16 hours in 1982 to 46 hours in 2002, or almost tripled in the last 20 years. This equates to more than an average by Jeff Paniati 40-hour work week per year spent in congestion during peak travel times.
FHWA is seriously attacking congestion, such as this four-lane gridlock, using comprehensive strategies focusing on near-term results.
FHWA is seriously attacking congestion, such as this four-lane gridlock, using comprehensive strategies focusing on near-term results.

In addition, the TTI report indicates other consequences from delay:

"Congestion costs are increasing. The total congestion 'invoice' for the 85 areas [studied] in 2002 was $63 billion, an increase from $61 billion in 2001. The 3.5 billion hours of delay and 5.7 billion gallons of fuel consumed due to congestion are only the elements that are easiest to estimate. The effect of uncertain or longer delivery times, missed meetings, business re-locations, and some other congestion results are not counted."

Although the causes of congestion are numerous and has variations, the U.S. Department of Transportation Highway Statistics indicates that, over the last 20 years or so, nearly twice as many miles are driven today—on a road system that has increased in size by only 5 percent. Such heavy demand, alongside with temporary reductions in capacity resulting from causes such as crashes and work zones, are making traveling increasingly costly and frustrating. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) pointed congestion as one of three priority areas, along with safety and environmental stewardship and streamlining, known as the agency's "vital few" priority areas.

Traffic congestion need not be the normal state of affairs. In addition to traditional efforts, an increased focus of FHWA is the development and promotion of transportation systems management and operations. Better management and operations will not replace the need to build new roads or add transit capacity where appropriate, but they make the most of the infrastructure already in place. Similar to keeping an existing car in peak operating condition rather than buying a new one, operational strategies can be less expensive and quicker to establish than infrastructure-building projects, and can be very effective in minimizing congestion and stretching infrastructural performance.

Transportation systems management and operations strategies have two overarching requirements. First and foremost is the need for institutional transformation via the reorientation of operations agencies from construction to management of the transportation system, plus collaboration and cooperation by traditional and non-traditional players (such as public safety agencies) in the workings of the transportation system. The second change is the development and deployment of 21st-century technologies, otherwise known as intelligent transportation systems (ITS), to enhance the capability of agencies to rightly regulate the transportation system and the ability of travelers and commercial carriers to make informed choices about when and how to travel. FHWA is committed to improve these changes in a variety of areas—incident management, work zones, weather management systems, freight transportation, and traditional traffic operations—each of which is discussed in this issue of PUBLIC ROADS.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Rush-hour traffic

Some cities adopt policies to minimize rush-hour traffic and pollution and encourage the use of commercial transportation. For instance, in São Paulo, Manila [citation needed] and in Mexico City, each vehicle has a specific day of the week in which it is forbidden from traveling the roads during rush hour. The day for each vehicle is taken from the license plate number, and this law is being enforced by traffic police and also by hundreds of strategically positioned traffic cameras backed by computerized image-recognition systems that issue tickets to offending drivers.
In the United States and Canada, different expressways have a special lane (called an "HOV Lane" - High Occupancy Vehicle Lane) that can only be used by cars conveying two (some locations-three) or more people. More so, many major cities have instituted strict parking prohibitions during rush hour on major arterial streets leading to and from the central business district. During designated weekday hours, vehicles parked on these primary routes are subject to prompt ticketing and towing at owner expense. The essence of these restrictions is to make available an additional traffic lane in order to maximize available traffic capacity. Additionally, several cities offer a public telephone service where citizens can arrange rides with others owing to where they live and work. The idea of these policies is to minimize the number of vehicles on the roads and thereby reduce rush-hour traffic intensity.
Metered freeways are also a means for controlling rush hour traffic. In Phoenix, Arizona metered on-ramps have been implemented. During rush hour, traffic signals are used in-line with green lights to allow one car per blink of the light to proceed on to the freeway.

Expressway and Freeway

In Big cities, migrating from one end of the city to another by means of ordinary streets and avenues can be time-wasting since traffic is often slowed by at-grade junctions, tight turns, narrow marked lanes and lack of a minimum speed limit. Therefore, it has become common practice for larger cities to construct expressways or freeways, which are large and wide roadways with limited access, that typically run for long distances without at-grade junctions.
The words expressway and freeway have varying meanings in different jurisdictions and in popular use in different places; however, there are two major different types of roads used to provide high-speed access across urban areas:
• The freeway (in U.S. usage) or motorway in UK usage is a divided multi-lane highway with fully-controlled access and grade-separated intersections (no cross traffic). Some freeways are called expressways, super-highways, or turnpikes, depending on local usage. Access to freeways is fully controlled; entering and leaving the freeway is allowed only at grade-separated interchanges.
• The expressway (when the name does not refer to a freeway or motorway) is usually a broad multi-lane avenue, frequently divided, with some grade-level intersections (although usually only where other expressways or arterial roads cross).
Motor vehicle drivers intending to travel over great distances within the city will usually take the freeways or expressways to minimize travel time. When a crossing road is at the same grade as the freeway, a bridge (or, less often, an underpass) will be built for the crossing road. If the freeway is elevated, the crossing road will pass underneath it.
Minimum speed signs are sometimes posted (although increasingly rare) and usually mean that any vehicle traveling slower than 40 mph (64 km/h) should indicate a slower speed of travel to other motor vehicles by engaging the vehicle's four-way flashing lights. Alternative slower-than-posted speeds may be in effect, based on the posted speed limit of the highway/freeway.
Systems of freeways and expressways are also built to connect distant and regional cities, notable systems include the Interstate highways, the Auto-bahnen and the Expressway Network of the People's Republic of China.

U.S.-state-specific practices

In some U.S. states (such as Louisiana, Massachusetts and New York), although there are rules covering all traffic on a public way to use the right-most lane unless when overtaking, this law is usually ignored and seldom enforced on multi-lane roadways. Some states, such as Colorado, use a collection of laws and signs restricting speeds or vehicles on certain lanes to emphasize overtaking only on the left lane, and to avoid a psychological condition which is commonly called road rage.
In California, cars may use any lane on multi-lane roadways. Drivers moving slower than the general flow of traffic are required to stay in the right-most lanes (by California Vehicle Code (CVC) 21654) to keep the way clear for faster vehicles and thereby speed up traffic. However, faster drivers may legally go through the slower lanes if conditions are permitted (by CVC 21754). But the CVC also requires trucks to maintain the right lane, or in the right two lanes if the roadway has four or more lanes going in their direction. The oldest freeways in California, and some freeway interchanges, often have ramps on the left, making signs like "TRUCKS OK ON LEFT LANE" or "TRUCKS MAY USE ALL LANES" necessary to override the default rule. Lane splitting, or riding motorcycles in the space between cars in traffic, is allowed as long as it is done in a safe and prudent manner

Designation and overtaking

The normal designation for lanes on divided highways is the quickest lane is the one closest to the center of the road, and the slowest to the edge of the road. Drivers are usually expected to keep in the slowest lane unless overtaking, though with more traffic congestion all lanes are often used.
When driving on the left:
• The lane configured for faster traffic is on the right.
• The lane designated for slower traffic is on the left.
• Most freeway exits are on the left.
• Overtaking is permitted to the right, and sometimes to the left.
When driving on the right:
• The lane designated for faster traffic is on the left.
• The lane designated for slower traffic is on the right.
• Most freeway exits are on the right.
• Overtaking is allowed to the left, and sometimes to the right.
Countries party to the Vienna Convention on Road Traffic have uniform rules about overtaking and lane designation. The convention details (amongst other things) that "Every driver shall maintain the edge of the carriageway appropriate to the direction of traffic", and the "Drivers overtaking shall do so on the side opposite to that appropriate to the direction of traffic", not minding the presence or absence of oncoming traffic. Allowed exceptions to these rules include turning or heavy traffic; traffic in lines, or situation in which signs or markings must dictate otherwise. These rules must be more strictly observed on roads with oncoming traffic, but still apply on multi-lane and divided highways. Many countries in Europe are party to the Vienna Conventions on traffic and roads. In Australia (which is not a contracting party), traveling in any lane other than the "slow" lane with a speed limit at or above 80 km/h (50 mph) is against the law, unless signage is posted to the contrary or the driver is overtaking.
Most areas in North America do not have any traffic rule about staying to the slowest lanes unless overtaking. In those areas, unlike many parts of Europe, traffic is allowed to overtake on any side, even in a slower lane. This practice is known as "passing on the right" in the United States (where it is common [citation needed]) and "overtaking on the inside" and "undertaking" in the United Kingdom. In most countries, the inside lane refers to the fastest lane (the lane closest to the highway median), but in the United Kingdom, it refers to the slowest lane (the lane that is in fact outside).

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Pedestrian crossing

Pedestrians must often cross from one side of a road to the other, by so doing may confront the way of vehicles traveling on the road. In many places pedestrians are entirely left to look after themselves, that is, they must observe the road and cross when they can see that no traffic will threaten them. Busier cities usually provide pedestrian crossings, which are strips of the road where pedestrians are expected to cross.

The actual appearance of pedestrian crossings has great variations, but the two most common appearances are: (1) a series of parallel white stripes or (2) two long horizontal white lines. The former is usually preferred, as it stands out more conspicuously against the dark pavement.

Some pedestrian crossings also accompany a traffic signal which will make vehicles stop at regular intervals so the pedestrians can cross. Some countries have "intelligent" pedestrian signals, where the pedestrian must push a button in order to assert his intention to cross. The traffic signal will use that information to schedule itself, that is, when no pedestrians are present the signal will never pointlessly allow vehicle traffic to stop.

Pedestrian crossings without traffic signals are also common. In this case, the traffic laws usually states clearly that the pedestrian owns the right of way when crossing, and that vehicles must stop when a pedestrian uses the crossing. Countries and driving cultures vary greatly as to the extent to which this is respected. In the state of Nevada the car has the right of way when the crosswalk signal specifically do not allow pedestrian crossing.

Some jurisdictions do not allow crossing or using the road anywhere other than at crossings, termed jaywalking. In other areas, pedestrians owns the right to cross where they wishes, and have right of way over vehicular traffic while crossing.

Perpendicular intersections

Perpendicular intersections Also known as a "four-way" intersection, this intersection is the most common arrangement for roads that cross each other, and the most basic type.

If traffic signals do not control a 4-way intersection, signs or other features are typically used to control movements and make clear priorities. The most common placement is to indicate that one road has priority over the other, but there are complex cases where all traffic approaching an intersection must yield and may be required to stop.

In the United States, South Africa, and Canada, there are four-way intersections with a stop sign at every entrance, called four-way stops. A failed signal or a flashing red light is the same as a four-way stop, or an all-way stop. Significant rules for four-way stops may include:

1. In the countries that use four-way stops, pedestrians always have priority at crosswalks – even at unmarked ones, which exist as the logical continuations of the sidewalks at every intersection with approximately right angles – unless signed or painted otherwise.
2. Whichever vehicle first stops at the stop line – or before the crosswalk, if there is no stop line – has priority.
3. If two vehicles stop at the same time, priority is given to the vehicle on the right.
4. If three vehicles stop at the same time, priority is given to the two vehicles going in opposite directions, if possible.
5. If four vehicles stop, drivers usually use gestures and other communication to establish right-of-way.

In Europe and other places, there are similar intersections. These may be marked by special signs (according to the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals), a danger sign with a black X representing a crossroads. This sign informs drivers that the intersection cannot be controlled and that default(custom rules) apply. In Europe and in many areas of North America the default rules that apply at uncontrolled four-way intersections are almost the same:

1. Rules for pedestrians differ by country, in the United States and Canada pedestrians generally have priority at such an intersection.
2. All vehicles must give priority to any traffic approaching from their right,
3. Then, if the vehicle is turning right or continuing on the same road it may continue.
4. Vehicles turning left must also give priority to traffic approaching from the opposite direction, unless that traffic is also turning left.
5. If the intersection is congested, vehicles must alternate directions and/or circulate priority to the right one vehicle at a time.

Intersection in traffic

In most of Continental Europe, the traffic rule is to give priority to the right, but this may be altered by signs or road markings, and does not apply at T-shaped junctions in some of these countries, such as France. There, priority was initially given according to the social rank of each traveler, but back in the days in the life of the automobile this rule was deemed impractical and substituted with the priorité à droite (priority to the right) rule, which still applies. At a traffic circle where priorité à droite is not overridden, traffic on what would otherwise be a roundabout paves way to traffic entering the circle. Most French round-abouts now have pave-way signs for traffic entering the circle, but there remain some notable exceptions that operate on the outdated rule, such as the Place de l'Étoile around the Arc de Triomphe. Traffic at this intersection is so disordered that French insurance companies deem any accident on the round-about to be equal liability.[1] Priority to the right where used in continental Europe may be altered by an ascending hierarchy of markings, signs, signals, and authorized persons.

Turning traffic

Drivers will always want to avail the opportunity to travel a straight line and turn onto another road or onto private property. The vehicle's directional signals (beckon er) are mostly used as a medium to announce one's concept to turn, thereby alerting other drivers. The actual usage of blinkers varies greatly amongst countries, although its purpose should be the same in all countries: to indicate a driver's intention to depart from the current (and natural) flow of traffic well before the departure is passed (typically 3 seconds as a guideline).

This will usually mean that turning traffic will have to stop in order to wait for a breach to turn, and this might lead to inconvenience for drivers that observes them but do not want to turn. This is why dedicated lanes and protected traffic signals for turning are sometimes provided. On busier intersections where a protected lane would be ineffective or cannot be built, turning may be entirely prohibited, and drivers will be advised to "drive around the block" in order to accomplish the turn. Many cities employ this tactic quite often; in San Francisco, due to its common practice, making three right turns is known colloquially as a "San Francisco left turn". Likewise, as many intersections in Taipei City are too busy to condone direct left turns, signs often direct drivers to drive around the block to turn.

Turning rules are by no means global. In New Zealand, for example, left turning traffic must give way to opposing "right turning" traffic, i.e., traffic turning into a driver's path (unless there are multiple lanes to turn into).

On roads with many lanes, turning traffic is generally mean to move to the lane nearest to the direction they wish to turn. For example, traffic intending to turn right will usually move to the rightmost lane before the intersection. Likewise, left-turning two rightmost lanes will be of authority; for instance, in Brazil and elsewhere it is common for drivers to obey the turn signals normally used by other drivers in order to make turns from other lanes. For example if several vehicles on the right lane are all turning right, a vehicle may come from the next-to-right lane and turn right as well, doing so in parallel with the other right-turning vehicles.

Uncontrolled traffic

Uncontrolled traffic occurs in the absence of road surface marking which could be any kind of device or material that is used on a road surface in order to convey official information.
Road surface markings are used on paved roadways to provide guidance and information to drivers and pedestrians. Uniformity of the markings is an important factor in minimizing confusion and uncertainty about their meaning, and efforts exist to standardise such markings across borders. However, countries and areas categorize and specifiy road surface markings in different ways.
Road surface markings are mechanical, non-mechanical, or temporary. They can be used to delineate traffic lanes, inform motorists and pedestrians or serve as noise generators when run across a road, or attempt to wake a sleeping driver when installed in the shoulders of a road. Road surface marking can also indicate regulation for parking and stopping.
and traffic control signals. On roads without marked lanes, drivers tend to keep to the appropriate side if the road is wide enough. Drivers frequently overtake others. Obstructions are common.
Intersections have no signals or signage, and a particular road at a busy intersection may be dominant – that is, its traffic flows – until a break in traffic, at which time the dominance shifts to the other road where vehicles are queued. At the intersection of two perpendicular roads, a traffic jam may result if four vehicles face each other side-on.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Organized traffic

Vehicles often come into problem with other vehicles and pedestrians because their intended courses of travel intersect, and thereby interfere with each others pathway. The generic principle that establishes who has the right to go first is called "right of way", or "priority". It establishes who has the right to use the conflicting part of the road and who has to wait until the other does so.
Signs, signals, markings and other features are usually used to make priority explicit. Some signs, such as the stop sign, are almost universal. When there are no signs or markings, different rules are followed depending on the situation. These default priority rules differ between countries, and may even vary within countries. Trends toward uniformity are exemplified at an international level by the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, which advices standardized traffic control devices (signs, signals, and markings) for establishing the right of way where necessary.
Crosswalks (or pedestrian crossings) are common in populated areas, and may show that pedestrians have priority over vehicular traffic. In major modern cities, the traffic signal is used to establish the right of way on the busy roads. Its primary objective is to give each road a duration of time in which its traffic may use the intersection in an organized way. The intervals of time assigned for each road may be altered to take into account factors such as difference in volume of traffic, the needs of pedestrians, or other traffic signals. Pedestrian crossings may be located near other traffic control devices; if they are not also regulated in some way, vehicles must give priority to them when in use. Traffic on a public road usually has priority over other traffic such as traffic emerging from private access; rail crossings and drawbridges are typical exception.

Traffic Meaning

Traffic on roads may include pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances, either singly or together, while adopting the public way for purposes of travel. Traffic laws are the laws which rules traffic and regulate vehicles, while rules of the road are both the laws and the informal rules that may have advanced over time to facilitate the orderly and timely flow of traffic.
Organized traffic generally has well-established priorities, lanes, right-of-way, and traffic control at intersections.
Traffic is formally organized in many jurisdictions, with marked lanes, junctions, intersections, interchanges, traffic signals, or signs. Traffic is often categorized by type: heavy motor vehicle (e.g., car, truck); other vehicle (e.g., moped, bicycle); and pedestrian. Different classes may share speed limits and easement, or may be segregated. Some jurisdictions may have very detailed and complex rules of the road while others rely more on drivers' discretion and the zeal to cooperate.
Organization typically creates a better combination of travel safety and efficiency. Events which disrupt the flow and may cause traffic to degenerate into a disorganized mess include: road construction, collisions and debris in the roadway. On particularly busy freeways, a minor disturbance may continue in a phenomenon known as traffic waves. A complete breakdown of organization may lead to traffic jams and gridlock. Simulations of organized traffic frequently involve queuing theory, stochastic processes and equations of mathematical physics applied to traffic flow.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Traffic Radio


Traffic Radio is a new and innovative service keeping you informed with what's happening on England's motorways and major A roads, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

With information direct from the Highways Agency's National Traffic Control Center, Traffic Radio gives you update every 10 minutes, every 20 outside busy times. Information when you want it - no need to wait.

Find out before you set off if there are any delays on your route as well as information of the newest roadworks, so you can make a choice about your route and the time you set off - or whether to catch the train or bus instead.
Whatever journey you're planning, Traffic Radio can help.

To tune in to the DAB service, press the "Scan" button on your radio. This will give you all the digital channels available in your area. You then simply scroll through the channels until you get to "Traffic Radio".

You can also listen to service by streaming it directly from the Traffic Radio website http://www.trafficradio.org.uk/ alternatively on your compatible phone or PDA advice, when you take a break from driving.

When ever and where ever you're planning a journey, Traffic Radio can give you the assistance that you need.

Blog Traffic


What is a Blog?
It's an online diary updated normally for frequent reading by online visitors. It is also a tremendous way of generating boundless leads and traffic to your website.
When it comes to promoting your site, you must learn how to create free blog traffic! What do i mean by creating free blog traffic?
Yes, there is such thing as “free” blog traffic in addition to all the paid traffic you hear so much about nowadays. However, purchasing traffic for your blog is not always a good investment, as increasing blog traffic can be done many times without you even spending a dime. If you want to learn how to increase your blog traffic, while at the same time get more backlinks, then here are two simple and easy ways you can do this:

* Pinging

Free blog traffic can also be derived from ping service aggregators such as Pingomatic and Pingler. These aggregators alert RSS feeds of those who have subscribed to blogs related to your niche, and your blog can be featured as well as a relevant page to visit. Thus you wouldn’t have to worry about increasing blog traffic because this service will do the job for you..

* Forums

You may also generate blog traffic by adding your blog URL on your signature at forums. By joining at forums, you get to discuss different issues with other webmasters and end users belonging to your chosen niche, thus you also get a lot of helpful information from them. You get to stay connected, while at the same time provide significant regular updates to your blog.

Lagos Traffic


It has become an acceptable theory that it takes 2 hours at the minimum to cross Falomo Bridge from Ikoyi into Victoria Island. Access is no easier via Bonny Camp that takes three to five hours at the pleasure of the gods of traffic. For the Lagosians who travel to work or live in those parts the end point is a shorter life span. It is true, those who keep medical records say that high blood pressure and related diseases is on the increase, people have become more lethargic and psychiatrists are seeing more patients than they used to (this in itself may not be a bad thing but……….). In addition, money is wasted because otherwise valued hours are spent in traffic while burning expensive fuel freely awaiting that you will soon move, and family members gradually become strangers because you only see them only in the night when they’ve gone to bed or on Saturdays while you sleep off the fatigue from a workweek, mostly spent in traffic. Sunday of course belongs to religion – there are sermons to hear, Sunday school to teach, holy work to be done or Nasfat to attend if you are Muslim. Whatever your holy activity don’t wait too late before you head for home because you will only be caught in traffic.
Of a truth, Lagos traffic has implications for security, especially for those of us who can’t take up windows because of the sweltering heat. And even if you can, you may not have shatter proof glass to prevent the area boy or his senior brother, the armed robber from invading your home to take your belongings, stabbing you to death in the process. This however is not meant to be dark humor. It is meant to be a well thought out solution to the problem of one road. Or not, since the thinking was done while I sat in traffic trying to distract myself from the hawkers blocking my sun and making me breathe in the musk that oozed freely from their untidy bodies. The solution may not be so useful now, since the Ikorodu Road model upon which it is based has also been torn asunder. So far so good, it is an idea and it should not cost much to test it.

Traffic From Social Bookmarking Websites


Welcome to the base info platform, today you will learn about getting tons of traffic from social bookmarking websites, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. By doing this, you get instant tips and great information that will help you drive more quality traffic to your website & grow your list. Thanks for visiting!

Traffic From Social Bookmarking Web sites

Now if you really like what you are doing on the net, and you enjoy seeing the spiders crawl to your site then you are also going to like what i am going to be talking about today. Having shown you my free ping sites that has kept my site traffic flowing continuously I want to expose to you something really lovely. See, if you are not checking your traffic logs regularly I suggest you do often. If you using wordpress, you could use statpress, a lovely plugging. looking through my stapress logs I was amazed when I noticed an instant jump in my traffic stat from Google, and even yahoo. All I did was easy, I adopted the power of social bookmarking to get the search engines telling everyone my website exist and can give you the answer you need.

I have over 200 social bookmarking sites right here, these are hot sites that would get you lots of inbound links and also increase your google PR. SEO, VEO, or Whatever method you are using to get traffic to your website, adding social book marking can be of great help.

All it takes is a few minutes of your time daily, after that great post just book mark it to say 10 social sites per day, and you ‘ll be amazed how much that can do to your Income.