My New Year’s resolutions:
- Run more
- Post more
So far, post more is ahead of run more.
Books I am reading:
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Why Most PowerPoint Presentations Suck (thanks John Brasfield)
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Again to Carthage (thanks Lynne Griffin)
The whole concept of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is wasted energy. I can’t believe that there are books, conferences and gigabytes of web pages dedicated to the idea of gaming the google page ranking system. All of that energy should be spent on creating compelling content that people want to read.
I got my wife and daughter a MacBook for Christmas. They want to create some videos. So, I also got them a Flip video camera that stores all of the video in solid state memory. This was going to be the ultimate in easy movie creation. Except, the iMovie 08 does not import the .avi files that the Flip camera creates. The previous version of iMovie did this, butI guess the Apple folks decided this would be a good thing to remove in the latest version. So, now I have to teach them how to convert the video. What was going to be simple is now complex. Why is my home life so much like my work life?
I upgraded my PC running Windows Vista with a new hard drive. My plan was to store all of the data files on one drive and to keep the OS and applications on the existing drive. This was easy in XP, you simply right clicked on the Documents folder and changed the target location. But the data folder structure has changed in Vista. The top data folder is called Users. There is no easy way to move Users and all of the sub-folders to a new location. I have seen some ways to do it through registry changes, but it was too complex, time-consuming, and risky. My new drive is sitting empty in hopes that Microsoft will address this. I guess this is just another reason to avoid Vista.
One more home electronics rant…when will gadget makers realize that tiny raised icons on black background is not the way to sell to those of us over 40 that can afford to buy them?
Candid CIO 
Regarding SEO, I agree that it is a bad idea to try to game the google algorithm. But SEO doesn’t necessarily mean gaming the system. At the simplest level it just means making sure Google can figure what your page is about. For example putting title tags on images helps google figure out what these images are, and using terminology that is commonly used helps searchers find what they want. Having relevant H1 and title tags never hurts.
So SEO doesn’t have to be back-handed trickery, it’s just making sure the Googlebot can read and understand your pages. I think it’s worth paying attention to for anybody who is looking for more visitors.
Hey Will,
I saw your blog on Vista and agree completely with your assessment. Here are some of the things I’ve figured out with Vista so far. It is a bit of a different animal than XP.
The only supported method by Microsoft is to define the “User” folder location during install. This can be done with an entry in the Unattended configuration file.
http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/d7159fe5-48d0-4939-a827-dc68c1f5b79e1033.mspx
However, rolling your own unattended installation is not such a simple thing. There are a number of good articles out on the web, one of the better ones I came across for using the WAIK and putting the Vista install media onto a USB stick.
http://www.svrops.com/svrops/articles/winvistausb.htm
Microsoft does allow each of the “special” folders (like My Documents) in your user profile to be reassigned. But this is not a clean solution since some of your data is saved on the D: and some of it still resides on the C:
http://www.vista4beginners.com/Move-user-files-folders-to-another-partition
Microsoft’s other work around is to specify a Roaming Profile Path in the User Manager. You would open each users properties and assign a folder for the profile path (d:\users\)
http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/fb3681b2-da39-4944-93ad-dd3b6e8ca4dc1033.mspx
At logon the roaming profile (on the D:\users\) would be merged with the local profile (on the C:\users) and at logoff, the local Profile (on the C:\users) would be copied to the roaming profile location (on the d:\users\). For all intents and purposes, the C:\users would continue to be used as primary and during logoff, it would be backed up to the d:\users location. Still not the same as truly running from the D:\users.
I both agree and disagree on your point about SEO. Good content should be the Number One goal when creating a web site. However, good content and optimized content do not go hand in hand. Case in point:
The FASCINATING Google Eyetracking Study released in 2005 clearly shows that the vast majority of users look at (and click on) links within the “Golden Triangle” on page one of Search Engine Results.
See Google Eye Tracking Study (Enquiro)
Furthermore, stats from last years Search Engine Strategy conference show that while 100% of Search Engine users view page one of results, that number falls to only 17% for Page 2 and 4% for page 3.
It’s important to understand that “Good Content” does not necessarily garner top Search Engine placement. Search Engines rank content based upon Relevancy.. NOT content!
In other words, just because a web site gets a top spot for a given keyword, it does NOT mean the author knows what he’s talking about.. It simply means the page is determined as most relevant for the keyword typed in by the user.
Obviously the best possible answer is excellent content that is ALSO optimized to insure that people can find it in the vast ocean of information available to us.
Cody Flanagan – Director of Online Marketing – Skyline Technologies
Re: Vista User folders. Try this tip. Worked great for me.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=215
Great content with well written headlines is the key to me. A well written headline that matches the content is loved by Google.
I love the comment about how my work is so much like my home. Well said. I’m just waiting for them to figure out how to put the square peg in the round hole and all will be well.