Friday, September 30, 2005

FOUND - AMBER ALERT! Help find this child!

FOUND!

Help find this child! He is in danger. They won't issue an amber alert on a technicality. Read the details. Study the picture!

Taken from the city of Strongsville, Ohio. Last seen in Lakewood, Ohio on Clifton Blvd. 9-28-05 at 10:00 a.m. We suspect that she will be trying to make her way either towards Mexico, or Florida.
...
Nancy Rolfe may be driving a White Chevy conversion van with light blue or green pin stripes. She may also be with a friend who drives a white Honda with black trim.

He'll be coming through Tennessee folks! Spread the word!

(Click here to quickly cut and paste the source of this message into your post)


Posted by: djuggler | 11:15 AM |

Friday, September 23, 2005

Want to blog but don't know what to blog?

This creative person blogs as The Daily Dancer and averages 15 or more comments on his posts. He has a following and an interactive audience. Blog content isn't limited to typed words.

A key to your content might be picking a narrow focus and being specific to your topic. If you're topic is variable during the times you are blogging about something uninteresting to a portion of your audience, you could lose them. If you want a variety of subject matters, consider multiple blogs.


Posted by: djuggler | 11:03 PM |

Bloggers Get On The Press List For Serenity

So if you liked FireFly and are a scifi buff and a blogger then this is for you! Townhall.com is giving Bloggers free press passes to a pre-release viewing of Serenity in exchange for a review, good or bad, on your blog.

Set 500 years in the future, the movie depicts crew members of the spacecraft "Serenity" fighting against "The Alliance," a government agency that has taken control of the solar system following a war shortly after colonization.
Serenity Still Picture

See Instapundit for more links.


Posted by: djuggler | 6:09 AM |

Handbook for Bloggers & Cyber-Dissidents

The Handbook for Bloggers is for people who want to be serious participants in the emergent online global conversation: How to set up a quality, credible blog. How to get it noticed. And.. if you’re in a country where there government might not like what you’re saying, how to avoid getting in trouble when you by-pass the information gatekeepers and talk directly to the world ...

The Handbook for Bloggers is useful for beginners and veteran bloggers alike. It starts out with several introductory chapters, explaining how blogs differ from other kinds of websites, blogging terminology, how to select a blogging tool and web-host, and how to get started. The middle chapters focus on tips that even veteran bloggers will find useful. The final set of chapters takes a hard-core technical look at how bloggers like Arash might avoid arrest, how bloggers like Chan’ad and RFN might avoid being “outed,” and how bloggers and blog-readers in countries like China where the internet is heavily censored can get around the political "firewalls."
more information


Posted by: djuggler | 1:36 AM |

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Google Blog Search

Google now has a search specific to blogs. I personally find this somewhat disturbing because blogs are content too. A blog is simply a form of content management system for producing a website. I hope this doesn't imply that blogs are going to be excluded from regular Google searches. (of course, let's not forget Blingo!)

Perhaps this is a predecessor to Google offering pre-filtered searches so that if you go to http://troubleshootsoftware.google.com you can search for solutions to problems without returning thousands of links to places selling the software you are trying to troubleshoot.

djuggler's personal blog is Reality Me and consults as SI Designs.


Posted by: djuggler | 11:44 AM |

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Great Website Photos


Part of making a great blog is the pictures you include. But how many times do you take pictures with your digital camera and they disappoint you with the results.

Sign up for these free instructions on taking photos with your digital camera.

Examples of the tips include:
# How to make your photos look like the ones that appear in the magazines
# Learn the secrets for nicely balanced photos
# Which zoom mode is best, and which can harm your images
# Become a kid magnet! Take winning shots involving tots!
# Ensure that with every group of photos you take, you'll always have a couple of great ones
# The piece of equipment professionals never leave the house without.
# Ultra-secret method that can make your otherwise boring shots really stand out!
# Never get too-bright or too-dark images again
# Ever wanted to know how to get the perfect candle-blowing image? I tell you how!
# The features of your camera you should never use
# and much more...


Posted by: Jethro | 11:20 PM |

Blogger for Word

I have not personally tested this yet. Blogger has introduced "Blogger for Word" which apparently allows you to compose and publish your blog in MS Word. Sounds very handy to a writer! I personally find that writing blog entries in Blogger's "Edit Html" mode has helped me eliminate some bad markup practices so I won't be using Blogger for Word.

I wonder if "Blogger for Word" would work in Open Office.


Posted by: djuggler | 6:31 PM |

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Search phrases


The most common search phrases on the miller family web site are
wet pants
bald head
banana cake
idabiz
naked soccer
family photo
rebecca twigley
mt beerwah
a family without tim
rebecca twigley nude

I am most interested in the "a family without tim". Who would be searching the web for that? I have never played soccer naked but I have had a bald head and eaten banana cake.


Posted by: Jethro | 12:26 PM |

Monday, September 05, 2005

Key search engine optimization strategies



From an article emailed to me by Entireweb
Smart internet marketing should include lots of different marketing methods but it should start with good search engine optimization strategies.

What are the best SEO strategies?

First of all, keep in mind that search engine optimization is a process. You won't achieve it overnight. Search engine algorithms are all different and can be quite complex comprising many different elements.

While it's not feasible to delve into the bowels of search engine algorithms, there are two basic optimization factors that play key roles in optimizing your site. They are typically referred to as on-page optimization and off-page optimization

On-page optimization refers to the elements of your web page that you can optimize yourself. Off-page optimization refers to the elements of linking and how your link partner sites link to you.

Let's discuss each of them

On-page optimization (website strategies):
- Each page of your site should have its own descriptive title tag, description tag and keywords. The keywords tag is seldom used nowadays, however each page should be optimized for a maximum of 3 per page, preferably one keyword per page.

- Be sure your title tag contains your best keyword or keyword phrase.

- Use header tags (h1, h2...) in the body of your page text.
Search engines look for structure and organization. Using header tags indicates good outline form.

- Bold your keyword or keyword phrase once. It's also a good idea to italicize and underline them once as well.

- Use keyword alt tags to describe an image used on your page. Since search engines don't index images, alt tags allow the search engines to recognize all your content. Be sure not to stuff them with lots of useless information. Use your best keyword or keyword phrase and keep it short.

- Include quality, informative content on each page and keep your content fresh and updated.

- Pepper each page of your site with your keywords Use your keywords in the first paragraph, the last paragraph and sprinkle them in between. Keep your keyword saturation at about 1-2%.

- Cross link each of your site pages by placing a navigation bar on each page. Be sure the title of each page contains what the page is about.
For example, if a page is about "jewelry beads," the page name should be "jewery-beads.html" or "jewelry_beads.html" and all the links to that page should be named 'jewelry beads' and set up as: (tags removed)

a href="jewelry-beads.html">jewelry beads /a
or
a href="jewelry_beads.html">jewelry beads /a

- Create a site map. Site maps act like a table of contents. Site maps can help search engines find, crawl and index all the pages in a website ensuring that no page is left behind.

Off page optimization (linking strategies):
Linking plays a large part in the optimization of your site so don't just link to any site. You should adopt a methodology in obtaining useful, quality links. Here's a few tips:

- Keep the majority of your links to sites that have a similar theme as your site. Be sure the site complements your site. It should be one that you would use and recommend.

- Links should be slow and gradual. A sudden burst of links could indicate spam to a search engine.

- The higher the page rank of the page your link is on, the better. This doesn't mean you shouldn't link to pages with a low page rank, however the higher the
page rank the better it is for you.

- The title of the page your link is on should be something other than 'links.html'. If possible try to ensure it has some relevance in meaning to your site.

- When exchanging links, be sure to submit your best keyword in the anchor text.

Good Luck!
About the Author: Elizabeth McGee has spent 20 years in the service and support industry. She has moved her expertise to the world wide web helping businesses find trusted Marketing Tools, enhance customer service, build confidence and increase sales. Get her Free Tips newsletter at: www.pro-marketing-online.com


Posted by: Jethro | 7:35 AM |

Saturday, September 03, 2005

I salute you Michael Barnett - subtitled how to get a blog to get 3000 hits an hour...


...do it from Post Katrina New Orleans


From his blog The Interdictor Micahel Barnett and his team are the only reason you are reading this, as this website and most of the websites I manage are only on air due to their efforts.
DirectNic is an internet hosting company also providing domain name registration and DNS hosting based in New Orleans. I use them for most of my websites.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina the company has a small team holed up in the 11th floor of their building running the servers on diesel generators.

Here are some quotes from his blog started during Hurricane Katrina and getting over 3000 hits an hour.
As has become their nightly routine, police formed up in 2 rows of 4 cars on Poydras at dusk and started driving around city blocks over and over. I saw some one car stop at a group of people camped out on a Camp Street sidewalk and question them, but then the cops drove off and left them alone.
Then we had to take a router down to city hall to try to get the city rolling on their internet. That included wading through water. God, the city is a mess when you head down Poydras that way. The Superdome looks like the Jenin refugee camp. God help this city. Whether or not it ought to be rebuilt is secondary to the real issue: can it be rebuilt? Looking around, I wouldn't know where or how to start. Good luck with that.
Dead bodies everywhere: convention center, down camp street, all over.
National Guard shoving water off the backs of trucks. They're just pushing it off without stopping, people don't even know it's there at first -- they drop it on the side in debris, there's no sign or distribution point -- people are scared to go near it at first, because the drop points are guarded by troops or federal agents with assault rifles who don't let people come near them, which scares people off. It is a mess. When people actually get to the water, they are in such a rush to get it that one family left their small child behind and forget about him until Sig carried him back to the family.
It's raining now and I guess that's a relief from the heat. It's hot as hell down there in the sun. Crime is absolutely rampant: rapes, murders, rape-murder combinations.


Please pray for New Orleans and its people. Thanks Michael and "Bigfoot" and the people who do what they can regardless of the circumstances.


Posted by: Jethro | 12:33 AM |

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Eric Grohe Murals and Design


Check out this guys awesome murals he paints on outside sites, walls and buildings.
Absolutely amazing.


Posted by: Jethro | 12:27 AM |