Author: Jeffro

Jeffrohttp://jeffc.meEnjoy writing about, talking about, and helping others with WordPress
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Back To The Beginning – Then And Now

Then And NowLife sucks without the Internet. So to kill time, I’ve been going through my backup files to figure out which ones I feel I can definitely live without. While organizing my backup files, I came across a text file which contains all of my posts from my blogging venture over at EFx2.com. What an interesting read. What I call my very first blog post in 2004 contained an abundant amount of typos with no regard to grammar. As a trip back in time and for archival purposes, here is what my very first blog post looked like.

General: Something Fresh
Wednesday, November 17, 2004 05:52 PM

Well I’m pretty new to the blog scene when it comes to having my own. I have read over the years about blogging, and I have seen many many weblogs that just end because well I guess they get boring and people don’t want to update them anymore.

I will try not to let that happen here. I am currently pretty involved with Photoshop and graphics design. Recently I have developed some skills related to Cinema4d, a 3D rendering program. Using this program allows me to create some cool renders that I have been using for some of my abstract wallpapers.

I hope to see you around and go ahead and leave a comment in the shoutbox. I will be at work turning this blogging site into a spiffy graphical wonder in the next few weeks or at least see where my limits are with this system.

General is the category while Something Fresh was the name of the post. You know, I think I remember that day in November when I hit the publish button for the first time. So what have I learned since then?

  • Spell checking is a godsend.
  • I’m a much better writer, now that I have blogged for such a long period of time. I’m getting better with each post.
  • Blogging is still fun when you write about the things that interest you.
  • Comments are still one of the best things I love about blogging.
  • The friendships I have made over the years through blogging have been wonderful.

Back in 2004, there was no Web 2.0. It seemed like blogging was much simpler just four years ago. Now a days, you have videos, screencasts, podcasts, audio posts, images, galleries, massive interaction, and everywhere you look, there is something embeddable. I may sound like an old fart reminiscing the good ole days, but I’m simply comparing two different time periods of blogging. I’m sure those who started blogging back in 2000 have much more to say in regards to then and now.

What I’m interested in, is hearing your history of blogging. Create a blog post and link back to this one if you must or simply leave a comment. When did you start blogging? What changes have you noticed between then and now? If you feel a little daring, you can also share your thoughts on the future of blogging.

This Phish Isn't Biting

As I checked my email inbox this afternoon, I discovered an email which was supposedly sent from CNN. The subject line was CNN Alerts: My Custom Alert. The problem is, I’ve never configured custom alerts on the CNN webpage. However, The email looks very legitimate and I almost clicked on the links until I noticed that the FULL STORY link points to a site other than CNN. Check out this screenshot.

I’ve never received a phishing email which has appeared to originate from CNN. I’ve received similar looking emails from Paypal, Ebay, Chase bank, Bank Of America, etc. They almost fooled me on this attempt.

The funny thing is, when I typed in the URL of the full story link into Google, I checked out the search result for the McAfee Site Advisor and according to them, the site is just fine, no significant problems found.

Here is what I find disturbing. How many people do you think may have been as careful as I was with this link and checked out the site advisor page only to see that there was not any problems associated with the site thus, they went ahead and clicked on the link? Thankfully, the comments section of the McAfee post filled me in on the details:

“…didn’t find any significant problems.” Better look harder!!!
CNN.com Daily Top 10 spam has disguised links to <http://www.blackhawkk9.com/cnntop.html&gt; concerning which:
DANGEROUS: LinkScanner Online has found [Trojan Fake Codec]
Yeah, as well as clicking the fake link of your choice they want you to download a trojan loader, submit your machine to a botnet and further their aims to rule the observable universe (nice work if you can get it).

Name: blackhawkk9.com
Address: 68.178.211.52
(Owned by GoDaddy.com Inc)
Nameservers:
ns17.domaincontrol.com 64.202.165
ns18.domaincontrol.com 208.109.255.9

Registrar: GoDaddy.com Inc

Also, I sent word about this email on Twitter and many other people have reported receiving the same thing.

Word of warning, do not click on the links within this email. Immediately send it to the trash bin or your spam folder or simply delete it. Although this email smelled phishy, this phish almost took the bait.

Nasa TV To Air Solar Eclipse Live From China

At 6 A.M. EST Nasa TV will begin to stream live video of the solar eclipse which will be taking place today. The event is scheduled for 6 – 8:15 a.m. EST and will contain Live Solar Eclipse Coverage from China (the period of totality is 7:08 -7:10 a.m.)

The last time I saw a total solar eclipse was when I was in middle school. What an awesome event to witness first hand. Especially if you live in an area of totality. Have you ever witnessed a total solar eclipse?

*UPDATE*

The live NasaTV Stream does not appear to be working for me. However, here are two other Live sources of the event.

Exploratorium Stream

Stream of Telescope Only photos

Three Golden Rules Of SEO

davefleet logo

I can’t even remember how I came across this blog post on DaveFleet.com but it’s a discussion on whether or not SEO could devalue news releases.

Dave does an excellent job conveying the aspect of SEO sheep within his post.

My problem with this, as with many SEO principles in general, is that people will take it to an extreme. They’ll follow the advice like sheep and will force inappropriate keywords (read: jargon) into their writing, and their products (and clients) will suffer.

Sure, these releases may rank highly for some words but so what? People arrive, see a poorly written release or page, fail to find what they want and leave. It’s a cheap tactic – one that’s no better than spamming people with emails.

When I read that paragraph, I wanted to shake Dave’s hand as that is how I feel about SEO in general. As I’ve always pointed out, SEO is not hard. Why people spend thousands of dollars on an SEO guru is beyond me. I have yet to spend a dime and Jeffro2pt0.com shows up on the first page of search results for things that I have written about. No optimization needed.

As for news releases? I don’t want to read a news release which contains a bunch of keyword stuffing crap. Instead, the release should be relevant, useful and to the point so as not to waste the readers time. Dave hits the nail on the head when he says, “Just Write Well“.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a news release, blog post, book, story, forum post, just write it well and everything else will fall into place. It’s worked for me and no, you won’t have to hire me as an SEO consultant for $500.00 an hour for me to repeat this common sense.

Three golden steps of SEO:

  1. Write Well – Writing well can make or break content. The best of both worlds is writing well while injecting a sprinkling of keywords into the content. There is nothing wrong with adding specialized keywords into your content just so long as they don’t take away from the article/release.
  2. Be As Relevant As Possible To The Niche You Are Writing About – It’s all about relevancy. From the blog title, meta site description tags and meta keywords, it’s about taking everything your site has to offer and making it relevant towards whatever niche you are writing about. For example, if you are writing a tech blog, don’t write about popculture events or if Brittany Spears is back in rehab. Also, don’t use hundreds of keywords in your meta tag area. This will penalize your site in the search results.
  3. Write Unique, Desirable Content – This one is pretty self explanatory. If the content you write is unique, chances are, people will link to it. This creates back links and will propel your content ahead of others. The desirable content is content that your audience wants. Find out what your audience needs and provide that to them. Desirable content will also aide in generating back links if your content covers a wide audience.

Do those three things on a consistent basis and I guarantee you’ll notice a spike in organic search engine traffic.

Woopra 1.2 RC2 Now Out For Testing

Woopra.com LogoWhile traversing the web, I noticed that Woopra 1.2 RC2 had been released and is now being tested by the public. Mac users on older operating systems who have not been able to use Woopra because of Java 1.5 will be pleased as this new release should fix that issue.

Some other things worth mentioning:

  • The Woopra main dashboard “home” view is improved and will showcase the Woopra Blog and a summary of your websites.
  • Major improvements in speed, stability, CPU performance, and less memory leaks and crashes, with even more efficient code coming your way.
  • Woopra Connection Handling for servers.
  • Ability to add your logo to the Woopra map.

Thank goodness a new version appears to be on the horizon as I have had nothing but trouble with the software since they released 1.1. For example, when I click on the Currently Viewing link, I get a com null redirection error. No idea why that is and it has driven me up the wall. Others have reported the same issue in the forum. Woopra was a blast to use, but ever since 1.1 was released (should of been codenamed party pooper) I’ve opened Woopra less than 3 times a month.

I know quite a lot of you have jumped on the Woopra bandwagon. Have you had a positive experience with 1.1? Did anything break? Has the coolness factor of Woopra disappeared?

GraphJam – Best Popculture Statistics Ever

GraphJam Logo As I was reading the latest issue of Wired Magazine, I came across an article which highlighted a cool website on the net called GraphJam. GraphJam was created by the same folks who bring you images of cute kitties in awkward moments, also known as Lolcats via icanhascheezburger. GraphJam launched around February 29th, 2008 and since then, has showcased graphs, charts, you name it, everyday since.

The graphs carry a popculture basis and in most cases, end up being hilarious. Here are a few examples:

song chart memes
more graph humor and song chart memes

song chart memes
more graph humor and song chart memes

song chart memes
more graph humor and song chart memes

I think that pretty much gives you a good idea as to what to expect out of GraphJam. As I browse around the site, I am trying to think of various charts or graphs I could make on my own. Sadly, I’ve yet to come up with any but thanks to the site, I’ll be keeping a keen eye on news items or trends that could be turned into one of these hilarious data points.

Can those CheezBurger guys ever miss? Just about everything they are doing is becoming classic hits. At least GraphJam doesn’t have us speaking in a new language.

Navigating The Blogipelago

I’m a sucker for info graphics, especially when they show a bit of creativeness within their design. This map of online communities, created by Xkcd is no exception. This is a map of online communities in which the geographic area provides an estimated size of the memberbship for that particular network. The numbers used to illustrate these communities are not 100% accurate, but I think they are close enough. Click on the image to see the full size view.

The seas are rough, but I’m still navigating the straits of Web 2.0.

New Look In Store For Jeffro2pt0

After traversing the realm of WordPress themes the past few days, I’ve come across one which is an oldie but a goody. It’s called WP-Magazine. More specifically, the 2-column layout. I enjoy the featured post block as well as the layout in general. The Jeffro2pt0.com homepage will end up having some similarities with what used to be called a portal page. I’m not a big fan of the gray color scheme which is why I will be porting my current color scheme into this new theme. I’ve hacked my current theme (Shifter) to death and now it’s time for me to start over with a fresh code base and go from their.

The new site design will focus on the content as well as the community. Since most of the interaction on the blog takes place through the comments, you can rest assure that I will be taking special care of that section in the redesign. I plan on keeping a similar look and feel as I currently have within the comments section, but I’ll be adding a WYSIWYG text editor for the comments, larger text sizes, CommentLuv support, the ability to quickly reply or quote a specific comment, comment editing, the ability to subscribe to comments and more.

I don’t plan on having the new design ready any time soon, but I think I’ll have it online somewhere between the week of August 10th or sooner. As for Jeffc.me, I’ve been having some Addon Domain issues as of late and until I can export my personal posts from this site, into the personal blog, I won’t be doing much of anything.

Jeffc.me Don't Wear It Out

This Thing Costs $20.00!

This Thing Costs $20.00!

I just finished the checkout process at GoDaddy.com for my newest domain name, Jeffc.me. The plan is to turn jeffc.me into a personal portal or a site which aggregates everything I do online. Jeffc.me will also host my personal blog so that I no longer will have to post that type of information on the Jeffro2pt0.com domain.

This will open the door for me to clean out the content found within Jeffro2pt0.com and refocus the site. During this domains first year of existence, when I wrote about Web 2.0 startups, did those in-depth reviews while also posting news about icon packs and news in general, it allowed for comments, a nice set of backlinks and most of all, conversation. I’d like to take this opportunity to turn Jeffro2pt0.com around and give it some focus.

As for myself, I’d love to write about things dealing with the Internet, WordPress, Blogging, Tech, Web 2.0 and news worthy items. But, what is it that you would like to see me write more about?

For those of you that have stuck around since this blog launched, you’ll know first hand that I was a posting machine. Whether someone covered a particular news item or not, you would find it here. I also provided in-depth reviews that the big sites were too busy to create and those received a lot of attention as well. Last but not least, WordPress stuff along with news of Icon Packs were also big hits. Would you like to see this blog go back to the way it was? Or do you have something else in mind?

I love community which is why I am going to either redesign this site or rearrange things to bring back that community atmosphere. Also, since the personal blog will be taken off of the Jeffro2pt0.com domain, this will give me a chance to play around with advertising as a means of monetization on the site. Many people have told me to place an area on my sidebar for 125X125 images and up until this point, I have refused to do so. Well, the time has come for me to take things up a notch and thus, I’ll be experimenting in the coming months with various advertising methods. Rest assured though that I will never stain my credibility nor will I ever do something unmoral. I truly believe in transparency and so thats what I plan on doing.