I can’t help but think of Ernest acting the role of Akismet in this scene.
Wow, what a classic movie that was. I’ll admit, it scared me when it was released to the public but not anymore! Anyone else enjoy the Ernest series of movies?
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.
Three Golden Rules Of SEO
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
While 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
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:
more graph humor and song chart memes
more graph humor and 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!
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.
Jeffc.me Don't Wear It Out
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.
I’ve Made The Move
Hello there. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend. Just wanted to pass a note along that yes, I am still alive and kicking. Working for Performancing has been an eye opening experience in more ways than one. Especially the business side of blogging. Working with the people involved with the site as well as participating in the community has shown a completely different side to blogging that I was once accustomed to when I blogged solely on Jeffro2pt0. Things such as monetization, social media marketing, and all that other jazz that goes along with it.
The great news is, a lot of the content I have published on Performancing.com has been submitted to StumbleUpon and other social media outlets without help from me. That has to be good for something, right?
I also wanted to say that I finally made the move. The move from being a full time employee at the grocery store to being part time (maximum of 32 hours per week). I have made the decision to try and improve my writing skills while also making headway with my job at Performancing. I enjoy blogging so much more than stocking shelves which is why I have made the move. Although I will lose my full time medical-dental benefits package, I feel like I am in a position to take a risk and see where this goes.
In the meantime, I am also trying to set my schedule up to give me more time to publish content on this blog. I miss the days of publishing 4-8 times a day and then coming home from work to see 5-10 comments. I’d like to get back in that groove and publish content that I want to write but just haven’t had the time or will power.
I was thinking the other day about how I discontinued the podcast at a bad time. WordPress 2.6 was released as was the theme repository shortly after the podcast died. This has got me stoked for Perfcast in September where David Peralty will most likely be my regular co-host which should be fun.
Other than that, I plan on cleaning this place up a bit, rearranging things and trying to get a posting schedule set for this blog. Now before I let you go, I’ve mentioned that I missed posting on the blog but what I am wondering is, do you miss me to?
Thoughts and Insanity From Jeff 