The End of 2010:
2010 ends.
The Beginning of the End of 2010
This day began as so many others: check my e-mail, follow what my FaceBook and Digg friends are doing, and begin this blog entry.
But tonight will be different...the close of a year, and a decade.
Yes, decades and centuries begin in the '1's years and end in the '10's years. It may be easier to talk about the Twenties or Sixties, but really the decades start in the '1's.
Enough mathematical philosophy; let's talk about writing.
But tonight will be different...the close of a year, and a decade.
Yes, decades and centuries begin in the '1's years and end in the '10's years. It may be easier to talk about the Twenties or Sixties, but really the decades start in the '1's.
Enough mathematical philosophy; let's talk about writing.
Top of the Morning to You
An image I created for my Squidoo lenses, because I try to find the 'best' or 'most popular' items at good $ prices.
Here's a pet peeve: I recently started writing Squidoo lenses. They have a very good ongoing tutorial setup that makes working there more like an RPG (Role Playing Game). They award levels as the lensmaster performs tasks like logging in for consecutive days, publishing lenses, liking lenses, and so forth.
Squidoo also ranks lenses, and defaults to presenting search results with the best lens first. So we all have an incentive to get high rankings.
But I had trouble finding useful "help" or "how to" material. Many lenses provide some hints, but rarely could I find what I really wanted to learn. In particular: should I "like" my own lens?
Thank-you to my FaceBook friend Marie Landry, who writes for Suite 101 and Squidoo, for telling me the answer is "No, do not click that button for your own lenses".
Now if only all you readers would rush to my Squidoo lenses and "like" every last one. At least, if you actually like them. If not, please suggest how I might improve.
Just to complete documenting what I have in Squidoo, "Shaker Furniture" has some examples plus a reference back to my Suite 101 article, "Shaker Furniture is Practical Christianity in Wood Furniture".
The "Winsome Wood Furniture" lens highlights Amazon's most popular furniture manufacturer.
The Morning's SEO
Santa Claus at Edinburgh Reindeer Garden by www.theedinburghblog.co.uk
Let's have a happy picture of Santa Clause and his well-grounded reindeer, since we have just turned the corner on Christmas.
I began updating my other various sites with links to my articles, including this very blog. The point, of course, is to demonstrate that each site is respected by the Web community...or at least by one busy member of that community.
Those who care could see my DeHaan Services About/_xref page or my Xanga blog for Dec. 2010.
This afternoon, I continued this pursuit by reviewing all my 2010 titles for Environmental Graffiti and Suite 101, then deciding which could be featured in future Squidoo lenses. This would provide backlinks to those articles, and also already-found images to be included in the Squidoo lenses.
I began updating my other various sites with links to my articles, including this very blog. The point, of course, is to demonstrate that each site is respected by the Web community...or at least by one busy member of that community.
Those who care could see my DeHaan Services About/_xref page or my Xanga blog for Dec. 2010.
This afternoon, I continued this pursuit by reviewing all my 2010 titles for Environmental Graffiti and Suite 101, then deciding which could be featured in future Squidoo lenses. This would provide backlinks to those articles, and also already-found images to be included in the Squidoo lenses.
Custom Writing
My SEO work was "interrupted" by a client's e-mail. He wants me to explain something, so I had better go do that work. Obviously, that page was not as clear as it should have been; I had better learn a lesson in the next few minutes.
I had already reviewed and revised the paragraph in question, but my client asked about the previous version. I did find ways to improve it, however, and sent him a revision.
I had already reviewed and revised the paragraph in question, but my client asked about the previous version. I did find ways to improve it, however, and sent him a revision.
SEO
I am spending some happy time posting articles and blogs to several of my social and anti-social bookmark sites, such as BlinkList, Delicious, EverNote, Receeve.It, StumbleUpon and Xanga. (All the above go to their main pages, not to my own lists).
I had one EverNote "note" for all of December, and that page got very full. My current plan is to open a separate note for each article site for each month, so that it will be less confusing. On the other hand, it hardly matters a lot, on the assumption no human beings are reading those notes.
Another caution: I keep track of the number of links which I post to those other sites. Some seem to be for personal use, so I do not worry about posting to articles other than my own. Social bookmark sites are a bit different, in my view: I try to balance promoting myself with posting about other sites. In Reddit, I also comment on interesting articles so as to develop both types of "karma": for posts and for comments.
All the SEO work meant that I did not write any new articles today...outside this blog and a few summaries on social bookmark pages. 2010 is wrapping itself up and 2011 is ready to ship it out.
I had one EverNote "note" for all of December, and that page got very full. My current plan is to open a separate note for each article site for each month, so that it will be less confusing. On the other hand, it hardly matters a lot, on the assumption no human beings are reading those notes.
Another caution: I keep track of the number of links which I post to those other sites. Some seem to be for personal use, so I do not worry about posting to articles other than my own. Social bookmark sites are a bit different, in my view: I try to balance promoting myself with posting about other sites. In Reddit, I also comment on interesting articles so as to develop both types of "karma": for posts and for comments.
All the SEO work meant that I did not write any new articles today...outside this blog and a few summaries on social bookmark pages. 2010 is wrapping itself up and 2011 is ready to ship it out.
Test in Feb. 2012
My goal is to test some in-line javascript on this page, with a view toward creating a landing page that can run a timer and reload the page.
For starters, I'm going to the left-margin menu, click "More", then drag down a "custom HTML" element.
I've managed to define the script area, a "Click" form button.
For starters, I'm going to the left-margin menu, click "More", then drag down a "custom HTML" element.
I've managed to define the script area, a "Click" form button.
Custom HTML for a Timer
This custom HTML element runs some Javascript. It only works by defining the functions inside the Weebly "SEO" header.
So far the "FTIMER" button might change the "Paragraph 2" text into other text; delay 4 seconds; throw an ALERT message box; then reload the page.
Yet to do: [1] on load, put focus on the FTIMER button. [2] mark-up the Paragraph2 text (big/bold/flashing/red). OK except for flashing, that we cannot guarantee anyway, depending on the browser.