3 simple things to improve SEO on your blog
March 30, 2008
Search engine optimization (SEO) can go a long way toward connecting you to the people you want to reach. And, it’s nearly always an important consideration (albeit, secondary to quality content) when you’re working on your website or blog.
And, there are a few simple things that anyone can do that will help your content rise in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
- Put keywords in the Title - For me, it’s important for my blog to rank high in a search for my name. I want my blog to be one of the first things listed when someone is searching for me, so I put my name in the title of my blog. This blog’s title, instead of just being The Flowercast, is The Flowercast | Justin Flowers’ Social Media, Marketing and Technology Blog. Make the title more valuable than just telling your readers where they are.
- Add a meta description - Most blog templates give you a place to insert your description. The description is the text that you’ll find in the search engine result directly under the title of your site. A good rule of thumb is to keep it about the same length as a twitter post (140 characters) so that the search engine doesn’t cut off the end. The description will help people find your site, and it will tell search engines a little bit more about your content.
- Add a meta keywords tag - This might be a little bit more difficult if you know nothing about HTML, but it’s time to face the facts if you’re a blogger and learn a little bit - it’ll make you a better writer and will help you present your writing in a better way. Go to W3Schools’ website for tutorials on all the pertinent bits. For keywords you’re going to want to find the things that you focus on most with your blog. Come up with ten to fifteen words or phrases that encapsulate the meaning or reason of your blog (including your name), and put those words into your meta keywords tag. Failing that, think of ten to fifteen words/phrases about things that you’re interested in - hopefully your potential readers will be interested in the same things.
These three SEO tips alone should go a long way toward making sure that the people who are looking for your blog and its content are able to find it, but the rest is really up to you and your content. The best thing to remember about SEO is that it’s really only a supplement to your real talents. The best SEO in the world on bad content can’t maintain a large following, while the best content with no SEO can.
Do you have your own tips about simple blog SEO? Please let me know about them in the comments.
I Dig Digsby
March 24, 2008
I haven’t written anything about Digsby because… well, because it doesn’t really seem to need much help. It’s one of the best IM client’s I’ve ever used, and it just gets better every day.
Before I go any further, you should go over to Digsby’s Website, download the installer and fire it up. You should definitely follow along while you read this review.
So, why is it so great?
Because of it’s multiple integration. Digsby manages to pull off the IM/Email/Social Network integration that I’ve always wanted to see - and, it’s damn classy to boot.
Digsby pulls information from your email accounts, all of your IM accounts, as well as your Facebook, Myspace and Twitter accounts.
Which means you’re constantly connected to all of your online media.
In fact, that’s also it’s biggest problem: It connects you too well. If you’re not careful, you’ll be receiving Pop Updates in the corner of your monitor every few seconds.
But, like every thing else, Digsby handles your attention deficit disorder as well. You have control over the updates.
The only other problem is that it’s a Windows-only application. Which is fine during the day, while I’m at work, but a royal pain in the neck when I’m at home.
One more thing about Digsby is how involved its developers are. While it was in closed beta, I was receiving an update or bug fix, with a friendly message from the developers, almost every day.
So, for a great Windows IM client/Email notifier/Social Networking tool - give Digsby a try, I don’t think you’ll find it wanting.
Shelter from the Living Dead
March 19, 2008
I got a good reaction to my last zombie article, so I thought I’d continue to another often misunderstood topic with zombies: What are the best places to hide from zombies.
Movies and books generally use the shelter as a story location and, more often than not, as a plot device. In ‘Dawn of the Dead’ the central characters take refuge in a shopping mall. The mall was chosen because it seems, in a general sense, like a perfect shelter as a result of the huge array of supplies it affords. It also proved the perfect location to set a socio-economic commentary, which is what ‘Dawn of the Dead’ was. The movie was a pivotal one in zombie history and, as a result of its cult status, malls have become the cliche shelter against zombies.
Other common shelters from fiction include boarded houses, military bases, funeral parlors, schools, sea ships, and even pubs. The point is: In fiction, the shelter is simply another aspect of the story and not a guide for real zombie shelters.
But, where should you take shelter when the army of undead rise from their cold graves in the inevitable apocalypse?
What is the perfect zombie shelter?
On the face of it there really is no “perfect” shelter. Any shelter, depending on a number of factors (including its upkeep and materials), is prone to failure at a crucial moment. But, we should have an ideal shelter to base our security measures on. It also helps to get all of our ideas down on paper.
To get to the perfect shelter, we must first consider the zombie’s limitations. For this scenario, we’ll be considering the limitations of the “dead” zombie; and in the event of the “live” zombie outbreak, you should disregard the ideas in this post and consider survival tactics aimed at surviving human aggressors.
The dead zombie is a decomposing human.
At it’s core a zombie is a poorly made person whose condition worsens with each passing second. They are easy to outrun and in a one on one match, they are no competition for even the least fit living human. But, as I plan to detail more thoroughly in a future post, they have strengths that lie, primarily in numbers. When you combine their ability to form groups and assimilate their victims as combined with the fact that they can’t easily be killed, the balance swings broadly away from the living and toward the dead.
But, the weaknesses of the individual are also the weaknesses of the group.
A group of zombies is no more capable of scoring a slam-dunk in a basketball game than is an individual zombie. They lack the strength and muscular flexibility to jump that high. A group of zombies can’t run or jump or do cartwheels any better than any one of its members. So, although the group is decidedly more dangerous, it can also be looked at as a single specimen when considering shelter alternatives.
The perfect shelter must play against zombies’ weaknesses.
Let’s look at the zombie, shall we? A zombie is a decomposing person, their muscles don’t heal with strain and every step they take carries them one step closer toward eventual paralysis. So, what can’t a zombie do?
A zombie can’t:
Jump
Climb steep surfaces
Swim
Run
Swing from their arms
This list gives a fairly complete, although generalized view of their physical limits. And, the perfect shelter should take advantage of these.
Given the limits, a perfect shelter would be a boat or a building that is high off the ground with only climbing entrances. The perfect shelter should also include supplies and an easy exit.
Max Brooks the world’s leading expert on zombies suggests a community of houses on pier beams that stand at least ten feet off the ground. The houses would be interconnected by a series of suspended walkways.
I have to say I agree. And, even though this type of shelter invites the possibility of running out of supplies and finding yourself trapped above an ocean of hungry undead; it’s good to keep in mind that no shelter is perfect.
Another alternative is aboard a ship in the ocean. In a ship it’s possible to fish for supplies and evaporate fresh water. Unfortunately, with floating zombies and low tides, the possibility of zombie attack remains, as well as a likelihood of exposure and drowning.
Every person will have preferences when it comes to shelter from the walking dead, and something to keep in mind is that you probably won’t want to be alone - meaning you might have to compromise on your shelter.
But, no matter where you decide to shelter yourself when the zombies roll in, make sure that you keep in mind the zombies’ weaknesses as well as your own. And, more than anything be prepared.
Evernote - Yet another DB for organization
March 18, 2008
I was excited to get an invitation to the evernote service. Who wouldn’t be? I mean it’s new, it’s beta, and it’s semantic web, right? Well, it is to a certain extent.
Evernote invites you to import all of your information into your profile. It also invites you to start sending all of your notes, images, thoughts, web sites and blocks of text to your account to be indexed. The promise is that the information will then be searchable.
One of it’s strongest features is its image text recognition. In other words, you can send a photo with text in it to your evernote account, the text will be recognized, interpreted and indexed for future searches. It sounds brilliant and if you’re like me you immediately start thinking of ways to take advantage of it. For example, if you were to take a photograph of every business card you get, with your camera phone, and send the images to your evernote account, you would quickly and easily create a searchable database of business cards.
It sounds fantastic.
So, what are the problems?
- It’s a new service I’d have to integrate I’m already using dozens of web applications for all of my organization needs and, frankly, I’ll soon need an organization app to keep track of all my organization apps. I need services that are seamlessly integrated. I don’t care about novelty or unique features if I have to go out of my way to use it.
Show me an application that integrates with the database tag I already use to organize my information in gmail.
- The image text recognition needs some work Don’t get me wrong, it’s the best one I’ve seen, but the problem is insurmountable if I upload a business card, then do a search for the name on the card, and evernote turns up zero results.
I realize that if I were to use tags in conjunction with the image recognition, I wouldn’t have this problem, but that adds yet another step to my “simple” database creation process - and maybe it’s just enough to run me off.
- It’s not quite Semantic Why isn’t it? Well, because the app doesn’t recognize the relationships between similar items without being explicitly told through tagging.
Final Word: All in all, I’m very impressed with the technology that makes this app possible, but, like most new closed systems it fails to work with what I’m already using, and therefore makes it nearly impossible for me to seriously consider using it.
You can register for a beta invitation at Evernote’s website, and I strongly urge you to give it a try. And, as always, please let me know how you feel about my review.
What is OpenID?
March 12, 2008
When I first laid eyes on OpenID, I had a lot of trouble understanding exactly what it was and how it worked. The existing documentation was pretty vague or didn’t explain enough.
The only thing that brought me back to it was its promise of simplicity.
The OpenID website says, “OpenID eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different websites, simplifying your online experience.”
How’s that for vague?
Since then, I’ve researched it a little more, seen the value in it, and added support for it to this website. I thought I’d explain it, hopefully a bit more clearly, and show you why you might consider getting one.
How do I use an OpenID?
Well, put simply, OpenID is a simpler way of navigating the web that eliminates the need for multiple usernames and passwords across different websites. But, more than that, it’s a way to take control of your online identity.
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Find an OpenID Host - You first have to find an OpenID host. You can find a pretty good list of providers on the OpenID website that includes a few places where you might already have an account.
I host mine with ClaimID but there are tons of choices and you should look around to find the one that works for you.
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Get your OpenID URL - After you’ve found the host, you’ll sign up for an account with them, and they’ll give you your OpenID URL.
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Use Your OpenID URL - On sites that support OpenID, like this one, instead of using the regular username/password login you can open an account with your OpenID.
This is where I was originally confused. I thought, “You know, all it would take is for someone to guess my URL and they’d have access to my OpenID account.” Which didn’t make much sense.
So, to save the same confusion for others, here’s how it actually works:
When you punch your OpenID URL into a login form and hit enter, the site that you’re signing into communicates with your OpenID URL and asks it if you have permission to use that ID.
If you haven’t signed in to your OpenID, you’re redirected to your OpenID site and asked to sign in.
Once you’re signed in, you’re signed in for the session - which is to say until you close your browser.
So, the convenience is that you only have to remember one password and you only have to use it once.
The upsides are:
- the ease of use,
- the reduced number of logins you have to remember,
- increased security against phishing attacks
The downside is that there is only one password that has to be compromised in order for someone to get access to all of your logins. Which is a pretty big downside if you’re the type that isn’t careful with your passwords.
If you’re the type of person that does a lot of worrying about security, OpenID probably isn’t ready for you yet.
If, on the other hand, you’re the type of person that has a lot of online logins, and you want an easier way to remember them, get an openID and start keeping your eye out for the openID logo, or try it out on this site today.
Are games the future of Advertising?
March 11, 2008
You see a billboard or flier with a slightly out of the ordinary message and an internet address. When you get home and go to the website, the out of the ordinary message becomes downright strange.
After digging through the site for an hour, you run across a link that you’ve missed multiple times. The reason you missed the link is because it’s hidden - you realize that it was supposed to be difficult for you to find it.
You click the link, and a video comes up on your monitor. It’s a young woman in a dark room, and she looks scared. The video is a message to whoever happens to find it. It asks for help and tells you what to do next.
You’re either a character in an action adventure movie or you’ve just been pulled into an alternative reality game (ARG).
So, what is an ARG I won’t go over what is well covered elsewhere, but I will say that it is one of the next steps in marketing.
You can read about Trent Reznor, from Nine inch Nails, and the ARG that he lead in wired magazine’s article and get a fairly good impression of the strength of this form of marketing and what it reveals about the future.
Potential customers, bruised by years of abusive marketing, are no longer affected by the repeated message. And, smart marketers are taking advantage of new trends by addressing them directly. By making the message, and the sales, and all of the negative things attached to “marketing” secondary to the service it provides.
In other words, Trent Reznor gets it. He doesn’t want to ram his albums down people’s throats - he’s trying to take part in a new form of entertainment. And that entertainment has reinvigorated his career.
This is attached, I think, to the rising culture of free and goes a distance toward answering Chris Brogan’s question: “When we’re all done with advertising as a business model, what will come next?”
Let me know what you think.
The Real Flow
March 7, 2008
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About
Justin Flowers
Mad Scientist
Zombie Expert
Fort Worth, TX -
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