SEO Resources for Profit and Success

My three helpful websites dealing with search engine optimization or “findability” :

SEO Blog

The name says it all – this is a sparse blog which covers SEO topics in simple article format, with most of the postings being little more than a few paragraphs in length.  A lot of the articles are just the author musing on SEO current events rather than providing tips or tools, but it is still an entertaining read for anyone familiar with the topic.  Though many of the articles are short, it does make the information easy to digest and painless to run through. For example, the most current post offered some helpful pointers written in a clever and succinct way.  I would consider this blog as something to check-in on once in awhile to catch the most recent post, but not as a constant storehouse of information I can refer back to.

Michael Gray Graywolf’s SEO Blog

In contrast to the previous site, this blog has postings that provide a good deal of content. The majority of them augment their text with videos, graphics, and imaginative images, and the whole site definitely has a more “professional” appeal to it. I especially like how many of the postings give you step-by-step directions on how to do something; this current posting is a good example of their approach. This is the type of blog which I feel I can come back to at anytime for help.

SEOmoz

This is one impressive reference, and looks like it should be a staple for any web designer or online marketer. In addition to a regularly updated blog, the site provides a selection of free tools and widgets that designers can use in their SEO work. The site offers “professional” grade membership that opens up more tools and functions, and, more so than any other blog I saw, it does an amazing job of generating a “findability community” among it’s adherents. My hat goes off to this blog – the site and its members actually get you psyched about getting involved with SEO, and the resources its offers are unmatched by most of its peers. Highly recommended.

5 Competing Sites That I Annihilate From the Face of The Earth

Here are 5 competitive sites I found that deal with the topic of “living cheaply”, the same subject my proposed website will be dealing with. In general, the competition is pretty weak at this point; many of the websites I found were no longer active, poorly maintained, or terribly designed. Even so:

Living the Cheap Life

This site is a pretty basic blog that would update with tips for saving money or getting free stuff, but that seems to have ended as of November of last year. There’s no complexity here – just a simple, chronologically based posting of articles with simple tags categories, set against a clean but drab white and black layout that reminds me of a typewriter. The articles themselves can be useful and the author isn’t a bad writer, but the site seems more like a casual hobby for its creator.

The Simple Dollar

This site shares a lot in common with the previous one; it’s a basic blog format with minimal touch ups for design and layout. However, this site is still regularly maintained, and there is a little more attention to detail in each article. The author posts more content per post, more thoroughly categorizes his postings and links to related blogs, and makes more of an effort to take advantage of content aggregators and other ways to disseminate his site. Kudos to the author for also having a good “voice” to his site, I think it’s the one aspect I will emulate most in creating my own project.

Frugal for Life

Another blog that concentrates on little more than posting articles regularly, with an emphasis on taking a more humorous approach to living frugally. This site is slightly better than livingthecheaplife.net, but falls below thesimpledollar.net in terms of effort and execution. The picture bar at the top of the page makes me cringe, as do the block of rotating animated gifs below that. Can’t blame them for wanting to get paid, but, yeesh.

Bargaineering

Another blog that competes with thesimpledollar.net for the top spot. There is little derivation from your standard blog layout and design, but the site logo and and navigation clearly indicate a more in-depth execution from some of the other examples. The articles have great content, and are posted with much more regularity than any of the other competitors. I also like the site name the most so far – it seems to have better branding potential than any of the alternatives.

Zen Habits

This is the most original of the sites I reviewed, but its subject matter stretches beyond what I have envisioned for my site. Merely than just providing tips on frugality, the author also gives his insight on having a simpler outlook on life and gaining value from things other than money. The approach is interesting and really emphasized by the very sparse, clean layout, which uses spacing and images to maximum effect. I really like the approach and, though it doesn’t seem to be a direct competitor to my idea, will have to consider integrating some of his “zen” philosophy into some of my content. After all, it is much easier to live frugally if you don’t care about money as much.

Lost in the Sauce: Exploring CSS Navs

Looked up a list of different navigation resources for this week, with the majority of them being tutorials for making slick-looking menus or hyperlinks.

• Pure CSS Horizontal Menu (SEO Friendly)
• CSS Navigation Rollovers With Drop-downs
• Creating Hyperlinks and applying Styles to them in Microsoft Expression Web
• Make an Optimized Slick CSS menu
• The Ultimate Navigation with CSS level 3

Of these articles, there are a few that stand out. I think Pure CSS Horizontal Menu (SEO Friendly) is probably my favorite, because it offers a very clear step-by-step instructional method. The author shows a visual example to accompany each step of the construction process, so that you get a real sense of how the menu comes together; I find this much more valuable than a purely text-driven tutorial.

Plus, a CSS-driven drop down menu is still something that surprises me. That type of effect seems like it would require at least some degree of scripting involved, but to see it completely covered in CSS is another reminder that there’s still a lot of potential there I have to explore. I would be interested to hear from the class about other examples of surprising CSS functionality, like drop down menus, hover boxes, or other interactive elements, that would normally appear to be script-driven.

My second choice for a stand out article is The Ultimate Navigation with CSS level 3 . Unfortunately, this tutorial doesn’t give the same visual examples that “Pure CSS Horizontal Menu” did above, but it’s still a very thorough resource. Plus, I tend to prefer how simple and slick the final result of this tutorial looks.

Notice how the author prefaces the article by warning that it incorporates elements that don’t validate in XHTML 1.0 Transitional – is it just me, or does these like these nifty looking effects never seem to validate?

Location, location, location

The three articles this week are all helpful resources for understanding how to use CSS positioning in laying out page elements. The first, “Learn CSS Positioning in Ten Steps”, was a resource that was referred to a great deal by other articles on the web as being one of the best resources for learning positioning. It’s definitely going into my bookmarks – this tutorial puts simple definitions for each layout property directly side-by-side with a visual example of its use. Though none of the layouts are explained thoroughly, it’s a terrific cliff-notes introduction to the whole concept.

The second tutorial is very much like the first, but uses a different layout to show how each positioned element works within the “document flow”. Unlike the first tutorial that breaks up each layout example, the second tutorial throws them together on a single page. I prefer the first tutorial myself, but I thought someone else might prefer this second option. You do get a better sense of how these can all work together on the same page by being able to see all of the properties used  simultaneously.

Finally, there’s the article “Absolute, Relative, Fixed Positioning: How Do They Differ?”. This is a good final article to read after absorbing the first two; though it doesn’t provide visual examples for the four major layout properties, the author provides a better “pro-and-con” analysis for their use.

A small complaint I had about the positioning resources I found was their lack of suggestions for how to apply these properties in real-world layouts. They did a great job of defining each layout and providing visual examples, but I wish they could have suggested some “best-use” scenarios. For example, saying something like “using relative positioning is often used to negotiate problems in multi-column layouts” or “absolute positioning can help you place dynamic images as backgrounds”. I know it’s greatly up to me to decide how to use these layout commands, but providing more suggested applications would be helpful in integrating them to my own website project.

5 Sites to Help With My “Choose A City” Project

Here are five “city-profile” sites that will help me in putting together my own project:

1. Yelp

 Why I Like? :  The site is very user-content rich and extensive, which makes all of the answers and reviews seem very reliable. Many of the community members also appear to be extremely involved with Yelp, so the content they provide is usually well-thought out and entertaining to read.

Features to use for my site? : The “Fresh Lists” section. It’s an area where Yelp members can post there own “favorite lists” on whatever they please – for example, “My favorite Sushi places in town”.  I wish you had the ability to make comments or debate about other’s member’s list, but the idea is still a great reflection of the type of information I want to provide on my site. 

Strongest Feature?: The community building aspect of the site. Because members create their own profiles and have so many options for interacting with other members, it creates a strong sense of community among Yelp contributors. As such, they are more enthusiastic about writing reviews and the like, which makes the content available to visitors that much richer. 

2. Find Your Spot

Why I Like? : This site’s friendly, laid back mood. The little animated dog does a good job in personifying what the site provides: an enthusiastic and generous help guide for anyone who needs it. 

Features to use for my site? : The site’s main “online-quiz” feature. I had already considered doing something like this for my site, so seeing a real example of it gave me some good insight into what questions and formats I might want to use myself. However, I’m not sure I will have the time in order to create such a quiz; seeing how extensive findyourspot.com is makes me wonder if I create something similar with much less time and information to put toward it. 

Strongest Feature? : Again, the site’s quiz. Its simple and fun to use, and the answers it provides are a good place to start when looking at other cities to move to or visit. 

3. Sterling’s Best Places

Why I Like? : Simple and straightforward. Though a site like Yelp has much more content, it can also tend to be overwhelming to a first time visitor. BestPlaces keeps the format simple and you don’t have difficulty in absorbing the data and user feedback on the site. 

Features to use for my site? : Though the user forum is pretty much like any regular website forum, it is especially relevant to me since many of the postings featured there give me great ideas for the type of questions I want to use for my own site. It really makes me think of how to write my questions and think of the process for posting answers. This site does have a bit of a problem of “shouting match” styles forum postings, which makes me consider how I will avoid doing that on my project. 

Strongest Feature? : There aren’t any revolutionary features, but I think that’s one of its strongest attributes. The layout and structuring of the content is the site’s real strength. 

4. City-Data.com

Why I like? : Much like bestplaces.net, I think city-data does a good job of mixing raw data with more detailed answers in a straightforward format. 

Features to use for my site? : Some of the questions on the forum are very valuable to my own efforts, such as “Top Ten Reasons Not to Move to (blank)” or “New Yorkers Considering Austin”. I like how some of these do a good job comparing one city to the other, but like bestplaces.net the unfiltered forum approach can sometimes devolve into useless name calling that hurts the content. The small image gallery provided at the beginning of each city profile is something I will probably use on my site, though not at the very top of the page as it is positioned here.

Strongest Feature? : Nothing stands out in particular, but the mix of numbers and user quotes is well integrated and accessible. 

5. epodunk.com

Why I like? : Though the information provided is very-data and number heavy, epodunk does a good job of making it simple to search through: a long list-format with practically every topic you could think of. Pretty old-school approach, but great for getting a thorough answer without having to guess where everything is. 

Features to use for my site? : They feature a large quote from a well-known person on each of the city pages, something I had already considered posting on my site. Seeing it used elsewhere is a good starting point for how to use it myself. 

Strongest Feature? :  Topic-driven list format. No hassle in trying to find anything, and the data-driven approach means you avoid some of the moronic bickering that creeps into unregulated forums.

“Everything Floats Down Here”

The first writing for this week re-summarizes the most important concept we’ve covered so far in class: making sure your design is based on your content. In an expansion of this idea, it reminds the reader that search crawlers review a site’s content from top-to-bottom, so it’s important to organize all of your pages with this in mind. The author goes on to give several examples of the most common float layouts on the web. Overall the writing is a nice beginner’s review of basic float designs, as well as a nice reminder of how it relates to structuring content semantically.

The week’s second reading is a real gem. The author gives a long list of resources on floats, grouped together in subjects like “clearing floats”, “float bugs”, “float layouts”, and more. In particular, I think anyone who is practicing heavily with floats should bookmark the page for the “float bugs” section. I ran across several bugs I have encountered previously, and without this kind of resource they always take much longer to search out and discover on a case-by-case basis. Being able to quickly refer to this webpage in the future will be a real time saver.

The final reading for this week doesn’t really deal with CSS floats primarily, but it came up in during my search and wanted to discuss it regardless. This article talks about the old arguments for using tables (instead of CSS magic) as a means to layout a website. The author’s arguments really resonate with me; when I began to learn HTML at work, I was taught using the table-layout method for building everything, and I found it to be a pretty intuitive way to learn layouts. Envisioning page layout in the standard columns and rows format made it simple to structure content, and it was very easy to learn how table, tr, and td tags worked. As the author mentions, this seems like a much simpler way to initially learn web design than the CSS driven way of doing things; floats, clears, margins, and the like take a deeper level of understanding, and implementing them can be much more confusing for a beginner.

The more I used tables and tried using more complex layouts, the more I discovered their weaknesses when compared to the CSS div driven approach. Now that I have grown more comfortable with floats, I won’t be returning to the table-driven way of doing things; however, the author makes some very valid points in this article. Furthermore, I was not aware of this CSS display: table option. A CSS-based model that emulates the simplicity of table layout? Is this a good way for beginners to learn web-design, or does it merely delay whole-hearted acceptance of CSS layout methods? I can’t fully go with either side until I tinker more with the display option. Anyone have more experience with this?

P.S. – If anyone can name what I’m referencing in the title for this post, I will buy you a cookie.

Semantic Sound-Off

This week’s articles all deal with discussions on semantic markup. The first reviews some of the basic differences between semantic and un-semantic code. The writing was mostly a reminder of things we’ve already covered in class, but the examples the author used were a great side-to-side comparison of what makes code “well-formed”. In particular, his explanation for using a header tag for something like a company logo was helpful; I hadn’t considered using an h1 tag to delineate something other than a text header.

The next piece is a lengthier discussion on some of the difficulties faced when taking internet data and integrating it into semantic markup. It’s worded a bit clumsily, but the author seems to worry that it is very difficult to agree on what tag names we should use when trying to describe our content. He is concerned that everyone will come up with their own tag names to fit their data and the result will be an online “Tower of Babel” where our ability to read and understand code content will be diminished by the great variety of different tag names we would have to absorb.

I can understand some of his concerns, since it seems very unlikely that there will be a wholehearted acceptance of any one way to name tags due to the deluge of different information on the web. However, I don’t think the goal is a single naming convention for all web data; rather, it seems our aim should be to use tag names that are well-defined and clear summaries of what content lies within. For example, rather than naming something ambiguous like “right_column2”, we should try to use names like “content_news” or “testimonial_box” – names that tell anyone reading the code what kind of content lies within. As long as our tag names aren’t too confusing and we try to abide by the other rules of well-formed code (ie: breaking down the content using standard tags such as headers, paragraph tag, lists, etc.) I believe we need not worry about having such exactness between tag names as this author fears.

Finally, I really enjoyed the last reading for this week. It’s a short rant on the recent emphasis towards making sure everything you create on the web is “validated” and why this isn’t as important as many like to preach. What I like best about this author is his frankness – you can definitely tell the author’s opinion is born out of many a late night trying to make a deadline. I definitely relate to his complaints. Sure, having really clean looking, validated code is great when you have a good amount of time to finish your work, as is often the case when we get school projects. But sweating bullets about not being “validated” when you have a much more pressing schedule to meet isn’t necessary. As the author points out, many of the most popular pieces of web-media or other code won’t validate unless you write specific work-arounds for them, which can be unrealistic for those times when the most important issue is, “Will this work right now?” I found this a refreshing piece amongst the many cries for validation that I often hear.

Cars, Bikes, and Barter

I looked into three different websites this week, each covering a different subject I thought could be used for my “final solution” website that I’ll be working on at the end of class. The three websites I studied covered carpooling, bartering, and bicycling, respectively.

The first website of interest I searched for was one that would organize carpools. I originally became interested in the idea of an online carpooling index through Craigslist, whose “rideshare” section gives people a place to search or post listings for creating carpools together. I’m often interested in splitting a ride with someone for my constant trips to Austin and Houston, both for saving money, conservation, and the pleasure of sharing company with a new person. However, Craigslist presents the information in a very limited way – basically just in list format organized chronologically from newest to oldest. I was interested to see if another website could take the idea further and make the information more accessible to its visitors.

What I found was eRideShare.com, named by Yahoo! as the “most popular ridesharing site”. The website lets you create a free profile, which you use to run searches for posted carpools in your area. The carpool listings give you a brief summary of the driving destinations, the days it takes place, and the members hosting the ride. From there, you can look at a member’s profile page to learn more about them, or to reach them anonymously with more questions about the carpool. Like Craigslist, the site isn’t fancy looking, instead relying on a barebones, content heavy approach, but it certainly seems to cover all the bases. I was impressed by the breadth of different carpooling options available for search and how much thorough information was provided for each ride. eRideShare.com is pretty much the embodiment of the expanded “rideshare” idea I had envisioned, so I’m discouraged to pursue this idea as an option for my one website.

Next, I looked for “bartering” websites. My idea was another extension of a Craiglist-style anonymous posting site, this time with the idea that the site would be a specialized place for individuals and businesses to post and find “bartering” proposals. Users could post products or services they were willing to exchange for other products/services: the unique part is that these offerings wouldn’t come with a dollar price attached. Instead, the system would match bartering proposals based on what each member was looking for in the market. For example, a student interested in learning Spanish might be connected to a native-Spanish speaker who needed babysitting from time to time. In exchange for the babysitting, the student might receive informal lessons from the Spanish speaker.

In my search I found barternet.com, and the results were disappointing. The site is basically a well-organized link portal that connects you to more local bartering companies, but it doesn’t do much “legwork” of its own other than giving referrals. The site I chose from there, TexasBarter.com, was slightly more promising. It allows its members to post business or personal offerings or find other bartering proposals, than purchase or exchange these postings using a “trade dollars” system . However, this wasn’t exactly what I have in mind. TexasBarter.com is too business oriented at the expense of proposals between individuals, and it isn’t free – you’re required to pay a monthly fee (a modest $20) and a transaction fee for every successful exchange.

As such, my own “bartering website” still has some promise, but the idea has many roadblocks. First, how would you standardize the exchange of services without attaching dollar values to them? And how can you match bartering proposals when each posting might be requesting very specific things? If I get serious about pursuing this for my website, these questions will need answers. Any ideas?

Finally, I looked into online biking communities. My one complaint about current sites is that they are too focused on “hardcore” bikers, who are more interested in endurance, off-roading, or competitive riding. What I am seeking is a site meant for people who enjoy riding bicycles and want to know routes around town and meet other casual bicyclists, without the seriousness of most biking sites.

The first site I encountered, bikewire.net , was exactly the kind of website that I wasn’t searching for. Though it did allow you to post bike routes and search for rides in your area, it’s meant for the type of riding I’m not interested in. In fact, I was daunted by all of the independent bike community sights I found after that. There was too much emphasis on miles ridden and distance covered, and very little to offer for people who are just looking for simple urban trail routes or “pub crawl” groups.

In the end, I think I was looking for something too specific; it seems like the information I want isn’t desired by a large enough audience to warrant a complete website. The most similar thing I found was the meetup.com group Urban Dallas Leisure Bicycle, which embodies the idea I’m after. It doesn’t offer as much information as I want, but it’s the closest thing to what I’m seeking.

After all of my searching, it seems like the “bartering” website idea has the most potential, but it also has the most variables I need to account for if it’s going to work.

CMS and Joomla: Are You Wasting Thousands of Dollars at Ai?

I was talking with a couple of friends who work in the design field yesterday and we started discussing the current trends in HTML/CSS, web design, and more. Soon into the conversation they both began lauding high praise on Joomla, something I had heard about in the past but was still largely ignorant about.

The way they spoke about it began to worry me. Basically, they made it sound like an application that practically anyone could use to build a professional looking website, including someone with almost no knowledge of web development and scripting. They also said it was highly interoperable with all of the most frequently used plug-ins on the web: RSS, blogs, wikis, and more. Plus, it’s highly optimized for search engines! In order to use it, all you to have is a familiarity with the old drag-and-drop system for laying out stuff in a Word document.

The more they described Joomla the more I began to grow worried, and for obvious reasons: could I be learning all of this scripting at Ai for nothing? If anyone can have the power to build an extremely functional, professional looking site, what of my future job opportunities as a web designer?

Since that conversation I have done more reading about it, and am I’m still not totally convinced that this isn’t something to be alarmed about. Joomla is an open-source (free!) application that is defined as a Content Management System (CMS). These types of applications allow users to manage high amounts of information in an organized, straightforward fashion, and to make updating that information very easy. You’ve already had exposure to a CMS-based system with WordPress, an application that gives you templates and easy interfaces to add content, and then poof, you have a website.

The Joomla website compares itself to a “librarian” that tracks every bit of content on your website. It seems like it makes building web pages as simple as moving stuff around in a Word document. From the examples on their site, the websites produced by Joomla don’t look like amateur stuff either.

But the picture remains murky. I gather that CMS systems are really good for sites that need constant updating, but that’s not very reassuring: how many sites these days remain very static anyways? I got a couple of article that listed other pro/cons of using programs like Joomla (and there are lots, though it seems like it is currently the most popular) but the disadvantages were never thoroughly explained.

The most obvious negative I could think of was that using standardized templates would restrict your ability to create original web site designs, but I’m pretty sure that you have the ability to add your own templates into Joomla and it will take it from there. I’m still not convinced you actually need a great amount of expertise to even build these original templates within Joomla itself. So what then – should I save the several K I’m dropping on scripting and programming classes and just learn Joomla or another CMS option instead?

I’m definitely taking this to Wayne, and if any of you know the answer than please comment. I’ve attached articles for reference, the first one from About.com gives me the chills.

Content Management Tools

Joomla Website

The Advantages of Joomla CMS

What is CMS? How it is related to Web Design?

Wikipedia Entry on CMS

A cautionary tale

The best way to learn something is usually the simplest: through pain. Like an infant’s first experience getting burned with fire, to a freshman’s first lesson on what happens after too many Jagger bombs, the best reinforcement is often one that comes from wanting to avoid feeling some serious hurt.

I recently had such a lesson that led me to see the value in blogging and “lifelong learning”, the stuff we covered in Intro to IMD, and decided it would be a nice tale to pass on for this week’s writing. I have always understood the value of tapping into the limitless and consistently updated source of information that the blogosphere provides. But up until now, this notion was a textbook idea – I had found no real life application or use for it besides making a good grade in the Intro class.

Every month at my 9-5, I am charged with putting together and sending out the company’s online newsletter. I had gotten so used to this routine that it was no longer much of a burden. There’s a standard newsletter template we always use, standard content we fill it with, and the same list of people that always get it. It’s a re-occurring project that usually doesn’t give me much of a headache any more.

But last week, something unexpected happened. I put together the newsletter as always, and sent it around the office for review. I soon received some pretty negative feedback:

“Ian, none of the article headings showed up in the e-mail”
“Hey, why is that box running across the page?”
“Why are there several sections that are all jacked up?”
“What’s the deal with being such a f*** up Ian?”

Obviously I was surprised to find something that has always been working not working. The newsletter did look all screwed up, with text not appearing as it should, backgrounds missing, positioning wrong, and on and on. What was happening?

The answer soon became clear. My entire office is in the process of updating their Microsoft Office Suite to the latest version, which lo and behold included a switch to Outlook 7. This had some serious consequences. After doing a search online describing the problems that were occurring, I found the answer on (gasp!) an e-mail marketing blog. Apparently Miscrosoft switched the HTML capability of Outlook to match that of Microsoft Word. For anyone who has encountered HTML templates built or read using Microsoft Word, the implications for high levels of suck are obvious. For those unfamiliar with it, Word really sucks when it comes to HTML. Trust me. Lots of suck.

The blog article informed that many elements I was using in the newsletter template were no longer supported in Outlook 7. No CSS background. No CSS positioning commands. There was suddenly a lot of work I had to do to make sure the newsletter went out on deadline without looking like junk. That’s where the painful part comes in.

Yes, I did get the newsletter out, but only after a few sweaty hours of stress. Even now I’m still very, very perplexed as to why Microsoft would regress the HTML capabilities in Outlook to match those in Word.

The experience did teach me something valuable though: the value of being hooked into the blogosphere. Had I been much more diligent about checking my content aggregator I probably would have caught this unfortunate update months ago when it was reported and not hours before an important deadline. Not something I am looking to repeat.

Hope it helps to have an example of why we need to pursuing the life long learning idea.