Webmasters are always looking for ways to improve their websites. Whether it’s enhancing your look and feel, increasing your Google Pagerank, search engine optimization, or any of the plethora of ways we can improve our sites, we’re always looking for ways to be better. If you’re a webmaster, I have good news for you.
Network Solutions has just come out with a domain name analysis tool. This is a great tool that will allow you to analyze the effectiveness of your domain name and improve it in three easy steps.
The first step is to visit the domain name analysis tool at the Network Solutions website. Put your domain name in the text box and you’re off!
The second step is to answer their quick and easy questions about your domain name. Once you complete the questionnaire, the tool will rank your domain name’s effectiveness in a few different categories. Even better, the tool will offer ideas on how to improve your domain name effectiveness from the comfort of your own home (and directly on their website).
The third step is to follow through with their recommendations. The tool will offer ideas on ways to protect your brand, increase your domain name’s relevance to your topic, and will even offer new available domain names that you might consider purchasing.
This will be an eye-opening experience for many webmasters, and is quite a useful tool. I would recommend it to anyone looking to improve their website.
Well, last week my blog got the Google spank. In a split second, my site went from a Pagerank of three to a big fat ZERO. Ouch.
I know this doesn’t mean much to most people, but hitting three a few months ago felt like a really big accomplishment. You see, Google “ranks” pages through their Pagerank, which rates sites between zero and ten (ten being the best - only sites like Amazon, Google, eBay and such have a ten).
A high Pagerank means a number of things, many of which Google will not divulge. To me, as a blogger, a higher Pagerank means that I can sell advertising for a higher price, thus meaning that I can afford to blog more often (not to mention that I’m motivated to blog more often - yes, sadly I am extremely money motivated).
But alas, for some reason the Google Gods have decided to spank me down to a big gnarly zero. This could be for a number of reasons, but it’s not because of my traffic. You see, my traffic has not changed at all, so there’s something funny going on.
Anyway, this spanking has given me some insight into my blog. I have been trying to rein it in, and keep things productive and more focused. But if that strategy isn’t going to help me, I’m going back to the old format. I’m going to talk about what I want to, when I want to, and not worry about trying to make the Google Gods happy anymore. Don’t worry, friends. I’ll still be bringing you the best stuff I can. But I might be inclined to write more random shite now too. Stuff like this. Stuff so inconsequential that I shouldn’t even be writing it - but here we are.
Thanks for tolerating my rant. And now back to our irregularly unscheduled programming…
If you don’t yet have a web host, or if you’re looking to change hosts, there are a number of things to keep in mind when you’re shopping around. WebHostRating.com has some great articles to help you through the process.
As a mainly political blogger, it’s imperative that my web host is reliable. I need to be able to log on and update my blog as news and events happen, and my ability to do that is directly impacted by the reliability of my host. This is a huge issue for many webmasters, so be sure and check into your potential host’s track record before signing up for an account.
Another issue when shopping for cheap web hosting is the overall customer experience. Having been a webmaster for a number of years, I know that it’s inevitable that you will need to contact your web host. And when that time comes, you want them to have fast and friendly customer service.
If you’re in the market for a web host, check out the articles at WebHostingRating.com.
I have talked before of my affinity for StylishDesign.com, a blog dedicated to the discussion of web design and web style (two factions that don’t often meet, unfortunately). There is a great article there that I was just reading titled “Issues in the world of Web Designing.” It tackles some of the most controversial topics in web design today, and discusses them in a rational and helpful manner.
The first topic addressed is fixed versus liquid layout. This is actually an issue that I personally struggle with, so the discussion thereof was helpful for me in my personal search for an answer. I still am undecided, but appreciate the additional ideas presented.
The next topic covered is that of table layout versus CSS. To me, it’s a no-brainer. CSS layout, despite its quirks, is far superior to the archaic practice of using tables for layout. It just makes so much more sense to me to use CSS with proper anchors to lay out your pages. But again, it’s all a matter of preference.
The third issue addressed in the article is looks versus function. Again, for me it’s a no brainer. There needs to be a good balance, but I would argue that if a visitor can’t find the information they want that they will leave almost immediately no matter how pretty your site may be. By the same token, if you provide the content they’re looking for in an ugly manner, they’re way more likely to stick around.
These are all important issues in web design today, and I enjoyed reading this article discussing them. Check it out if you get a chance.
If you program web applications using ColdFusion, you’re probably pretty savvy to begin with. But it seems there always comes a times when we could use a little help from our (online) friends. I use ColdFusion in a limited capacity, but came across a site that I thought would probably be of benefit to someone out there.
The specific article I came across covers calling a function by using CF Invoke. Not only does it talk about calling ColdFusion functions, it also covers conditionally including and modifying arguments using CFINVOKEARGUMENT. All of these are very helpful to ColdFusion programmers.
If you’re interested in more information about this sort of thing, be sure and check out Jack Irwingston’s articles on Free.fm.
If you’re any fan of the series of tubes known as the interwebs, you have no doubt heard about the ongoing battle about net neutrality. As a small-time blogger with some big opinions, an open Internet is essential to my operation.
In this excerpt from a November 2007 speech, Barack Obama discusses net neutrality in an intelligent and rational manner. I would also like to point out that you can tell that Obama understands the words that he is saying, and understands the issues he is talking about.
And isn’t that exactly what we need? A President who actually understands the Internet? Seriously, it’s 2008, and our President doesn’t understand what in the hell this series of tubes known as the Internet really is, although he does use “the Google” every now and then.
Anyway, check out the video, and think about whether Hillary or McCain would ever give a similar speech.
If you haven’t yet watched “Let’s Paint, Exercise, and Blend Drinks TV,” you really need to do yourself a favor and watch it. It’s a cable access show from Los Angeles hosted by a guy named John Kilduff, and it’s amazing. Check it out, amigos:
If you read my earlier post about becoming a new FiOS customer, you have obviously been waiting with baited breath waiting for the update on how DSLReports.com. Your patience has paid off, and here are the results:
As you can see, FiOS isn’t blazingly faster than Charter’s cable modem service in the download department. However, the upload speed is significantly faster than Charter’s. Fortunately, that’s exactly what I was hoping for. So I’m happy.
I’ll try and keep you posted as my FiOS experience continues.
Well actually I’m not yet, but the Verizon guy is outside my house installing the hardware and getting things going. In celebration (and out of curiosity), I just ran a speed test to see how fast my allegedly high speed connection from Charter is. Here are the results:
As soon as the FiOS gets installed, I’ll run another test and post the results. I’m sure you’re all holding your breath!
This here is a bit of a break from my random political ramblings. I just wanted to sincerely thank all of you who have been visiting my blog lately. I really appreciate you stopping by and opening your minds to whatever crazy crap I’m spewing that day. It’s amazing how much my readership has increased lately, and it’s really cool to see the numbers keep increasing. So thank you, and please keep stopping by.
Here’s a screen capture from Google Analytics showing where all of you are coming from. It’ pretty cool to have readers from all over the world!
