JF - Favouritism

Is google the new holy grail......

2005-10-18T08:12:00.000Z

Ok I haven't been about too much.

What with the house and the new sites I haven't had time. It's been difficult. I want to say I'll post once a week and we'll leave it like that from now on.

So in the last few days I have been watching an 80 page post on www.webmasterworld.com about the upcoming google update. It got me thinking. Is google the new Holy Grail?

The legend of the Holy Grail is one of the most enduring in Western European literature and art. The Grail was said to be the cup of the Last Supper and at the Crucifixion to have received blood flowing from Christ's side. It was brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea, where it lay hidden for centuries.

The search for the vessel became the principal quest of the knights of King Arthur. It was believed to be kept in a mysterious castle surrounded by a wasteland and guarded by a custodian called the Fisher King, who suffered from a wound that would not heal. His recovery and the renewal of the blighted lands depended upon the successful completion of the quest. Equally, the self-realisation of the questing knight was assured by finding the Grail. The magical properties attributed to the Holy Grail have been plausibly traced to the magic vessels of Celtic myth that satisfied the tastes and needs of all who ate and drank from them.

I believe understanding google is today’s Holy Grail. The rewards are great. Yet the task is dangerous and not without peril.

I follow the important SEO message boards and also notice the big players on there. I liken many of them to King Arthurs Knights. Searching and questing. I sometimes wonder if their whole working days are taken up with this quest. And I wonder if they get time for anything else!

And then there are those more sensible characters in our fairy tale; those that know that the quest will only end in disappointment. These men and women continue with their own quest - writing content and meeting standards. They are the knights of the white hat. They represent all that is good and pure. For some the rewards are still there. And many live a good and fruitful life. Yet they very rarely are mentioned in song or tale.

So what should we do? Should we carry on questing for something that might not even exist? To constantly fight the growing everflux and guess googles next dance move? Or do we don our white hats and live in fear that one day the holy grail may even come looking for you?

What a weekend!

2005-09-19T11:22:00.000Z

Well basically I didn't actually get that much done over the weekend to be honest. However what I did do is immense. We're launching a new site. It's all to do with a certain game and a update that has happened that people aren't happy with. It's a petition site. And once again the potential for the site is massive. I think that in the next 3 weeks we could have 100's of visitors a day.

That traffic will eventually passed on to the JM site and also because it's a petition site we'll have the e-mail addresses from people in the industry. It's a marketters dream.

Other than that nothing is new. I'll post a link to the new site soon!

Motivation problems

2005-09-12T15:33:00.000Z

Ok so last week I had problems getting myself motivated. Today things haven't been that bad but I thought I'd share a little problem I have. It just seems I get endless waves of ideas. The problem is I never finish any of them. I have 3 websites that are in various states. I have ideas for a home entertainment system when we move yet I have no idea where to start.

It carrys on in to my work as well. Loads of ideas just never get to finish them. I wondered for a while if it was related to mt caffinine intake. I have to research that further.

Web site wise we have had a lot of work done on the xbox site this weekend. I'm looking at getting another night of work done tonight. Also hoping to have another little mix tonight. I got asked a cd the other day. That doesn't happen very often.

Right I better get back to work. TTFN

So I missed a day.....

2005-09-09T15:33:00.000Z

I had my reasons. I'm very worried about the recent google update. Or non update. It's a worry because I had hoped to launch at least one of my new sites before the update came to town. As it turns out I might have a couple of weeks. I might not. If not then I have one update between now and Christmas to get them in ship shape.

Talking of which I have had major problems with the xbox site. The buttons just didn't work. They were too big and it's meant that I have to resign the whole site. It's a nightmare really.

Other than that I have had huge success with SEF 404 for mambo. It really is a clever piece of software and is going to help loads with Search engine optimization.

This weekend I have the place to myself more or less. Hopefully that will mean a productive weekend. Maybe I'll make a few posts here.

If not have a good weekend all.

3 days and this is still going!

2005-09-07T14:09:00.000Z

Well I am surprised. Well maybe I'm not.

Whats happening today? Well I've got some more content up for the DJ site. And I've rejigged the front page. I also now have all the static tables I need for my new project. I think I'm going to take the laptop home tonight and work on it! I'm actually quite excited about it. My sql knowledge has grown and grown in the last 4 months. The only thing I worry about is hacking my system in to the forum. Although the more I think about it the more I think it may just be a quick link sort of thing.

I have also just realised I have no money. Nothing. Zip. This is not good so I'm going to spend the weekend re-building a few laptops. Happy days.

England are on TV tonight. I'm looking forward to it. I hope to combine the database work and watching England in one.

I think thats about it for now. What do you think of the design of the site anyway? Is anyone actually reading this? I doubt it......

It's morning

2005-09-06T08:22:00.000Z

And I feel quite good to be honest.

Today's outlook is good. Tonight I'm going to have loads of time to do some work. I'm going to get home, cook something great and spend a night with the laptop working on my sites. I've thought about getting other people to write some content for the DJ site I run. However I just don't feel comfortable with it.

Looking through my logs as I have been writing this I have found that I'm now getting search engine referrals on my keywords. This is amazing as the site has been live for less than 6 months. These are generic terms I hoped to achieve after a year, not six months. I've found that content really is king. I've got 10 articles of good content that are really helping my site now. That's why I feel like I do about the above.

What else is new? I did a mix last night. It was awful but at least I spent some time with my decks. It maybe becoming a hobby I can't afford. I might have to bite the bullet and either get a CD deck or sell the lot. We'll have to see. Although that little revelation has given me an idea for an article.

I've got quite a lot on at work. I'm finding that I'm not getting motivated about the boring stuff. However this morning I have a big task to do so hopefully the day will fly by with no problems at all.

So another post.....

2005-09-05T14:54:00.000Z

So I have been working all morning on this big project with a few friends of mine and you know it's hit a nerve and so I'm writing a quick post.

The problem is the order in which I do everything. It's a major stress, more so than the project itself.
So I have started with database design, as I wrote earlier. I keep stumbling at the static tables. I can't start the main tables without the static tables being in place. And the static tables are always the most boring.

I wonder if people ever get like this as well? I know what I need to do, I know I can do it, I just can't get the flow of things right out of my head. Maybe it's a Monday thing. Maybe I should stop drinking coffee.

Maybe I should stop writing this blog and carry on with work......

Welcome!

2005-09-05T11:12:00.000Z

Ok, here it is. I have been thinking about this for quite sometime and now I'm doing it. Why I hear you ask. Well for many reasons :-

First I have 6 websites and would like to share my experiences of building and designing them.
I am moving house (hopefully) soon. I know nothing about this and maybe I could help others in the future.
I've been meaning to write a diary for sometime now.

So today is the first post. Will I keep this up? Maybe not! But here's what I'm doing today:

I'm designing the database design for our new site. I'll keep it underwraps until it's launched.
I'm trying to sort out my electricity bill. I pay a direct debit of £20 and they have sent me a bill for £65.
At work I am looking more and more in to asp.net. It's great. I love work at the mo.
I'm also going to repair my xbox dvd drive. Quite an achievement if it works.

So that is it for now.

Johny