The perks of running a big sci-fi site

So I sent Peter Jurasik - Londo Mollari in Babylon 5 - an email, asking if he’d do an interview.
Just got a reply and all looks good to go - which is great!
Got to admit, I feel really excited about this - Babylon 5 was, at it’s height, the greatest science fiction TV series written […]

How many subdomains does eBay need?

Hopefully I’m not the only one noticing eBay listings clogging up the Google UK rankings.
Come on, eBay, just how many subdomains do you need?
Let’s see - here’s a few prominent ones:

cgi.ebay.co.uk
[keyword].search.ebay
[keyword].listings.ebay
members.ebay
myworld.ebay
pages.ebay
pulse.ebay
search-desc.ebay
search.stores.ebay
stores.ebay.co.uk
wantitnow.ebay
wantitnow.listings.ebay

Of course, no point just doing all that on a single domain - especially when Google can allow eBay to clog up the SERPs using […]

vbulletin template sites

I’ve been looking into using one or more vbulletin templates recently.
On the + side, they can help make a site more attractive - especially good for when trying to attract new members.
On the - side, not only can they make a site slow loading, but editing site templates can mean having to re-edit them every […]

Google focus on anchor-text variation?

An interesting report at SEL points out that “miserable failure” no longer brings up the Whitehouse site.
My immediate thought is that this is an anchot text issue - that Google have modified the alogrithm so that too much of the same anchor text is likely to be ignored.
This is because the whole miserable failure was […]

Scottish Drivers Association (satire)

Today the Scottish Drivers Association held their annual meeting:

Among the general discussions the following seminary courses were offered:
1. Overtaking On Blind Corners Is Fun
Learn how boring long journeys can be livened up by over taking traffic on blind corners. TIP: Make the experience more fun by over taking only speeding traffic.
2. You Too Can Drink […]

Why on-page SEO is a service in demand

To many SEO’s, having a search-engine friendly website is a concern from the start.
When we build or develop sites from scratch, it’s usually there as a priority. Because of this, on-site SEO isn’t usually a big issue to work with.
We can appreciate the commercial benefits of helping search engines find and read our content. […]

A little Google humour

While redeveloping Platinax I found a couple of pages I hadn’t published before.
I had intended to write a humour section, but only wrote a couple of SEO humour items before deciding it wouldn’t fit with the site.
Anyway, figured I’d publish them, so see if anyone like’s them:
The Four SEO’s (after Monty Python)
Presidential Speech Against SEO
A […]

A Public Apology for Michael Gray and Todd Malicoat

My comments at Threadwatch could be read as questioning the character and professionalism of both Michael Gray and Todd Malicoat.
I don’t want that to be the case, and where this is construed, I offer my unreserved and sincere apologies for the misperception.
It was obvious from the start that the hacking of SEO blogs wasn’t […]

Researching blog networks

There are two issues I’m currently researching:
1. Existing blog networks
I run a few blogs, but never really looked at networking them - but recently I’ve begun looking into the idea of integrating them into existing blog networks.
Question is - which ones are available, and which ones could help leverage actual traffic?
A couple of sites I’ve […]

Examples of why businesses need SEOs

Todd Freisen continues the defence of SEO as a valid and important specialist service for businesses, underlining the points Danny Sullivan made previously that just because a specialist finds their specialist skills easy, doesn’t mean to say everyone else does.
What a lot of people are over-looking, though, is that SEO’s - good SEO’s - are […]

Sexy clothing for my girlfriend

I took a risk and bought some lingerie for my girlfriend this Christmas.
I’m now developing an increasing interest in women’s clothing, which means I’m either:
1. Gay
2. A pervert
3. Looking at ecommerce options
I’m becoming seriously interested in option 3, precisely because I don’t see the current UK market being well served - specifically in more […]

A Google quote worth highlighting

Michael Gray make’s a long post at Threadwatch about Google, which ends with a comment that just demands highlighting as a quote:

to you Googlers who are out in the trenches every day looking for issues and interacting with the community, and solving problems I salute and thank you. To you the faceless all consuming Google […]

eyeOS a threat to Google and Microsoft?

I’ve already mentioned before that Google is trying to turn the internet into a customised OS - and that this directly competes with Microsoft’s attempt to focus on remote file hosting.
It seems the future is already laid out - allow internet users to remotely host files online and wall them off in a suite of […]

Content development for links needs to be remarkable

Last night something hit me - the logical conclusion of Google’s anti-spam drive is that individual pages with rank according to the quality of their link profiles.
In other words - pages will rank best if many people are linking to them.
I know - that in itself isn’t a revelation - but it’s not the […]

iPhone - I want one!

Looks like the Steve Jobs presentation at MacWorld is winding up: but it’s now official - the iPhone is coming.
I’ve already written up a report on Platinax News - must say, this feels like a really big story.
CNET have been frantically trying to write what’s happening live, typos and all, while Engadget are posting […]

Should search engines use Akismet?

Should search engines be able to datamine Akismet for obvious anti-webspam filtering?
For those who don’t know, Akismet is an anti-spam plugin originally for Wordpress, that according to reports, filters out something like 99.9% of spam before it even reaches the Wordpress admin panel.
However, it’s now being used to fight spam on SMF, Drupal, and phpbb.
The […]

Google failures take umbrage

The Register carries a series of letters, that responded for calls for failed applicatants to Google to share their interview experiences.
Now, I’m no Human Resources expert by a mile, but some the replies to me just plain underline unsuitability for employment in any environment, let alone Google.
In most instances, the candidates show exceptional arrogance:
Candidate 2:

The […]

Marketing Do’s and Don’ts

Todd Malicoat posts one of the best weekly round-ups I’ve seen in a while.
Two key posts stood out:
1. Scoreboard Media on Client Baiting
Evangelises business networking and identification of potential clients - in this instance, CEO’s as risk-takers. The cheeky end line is that investing in a porsche could help sell his business. I’ve heard that […]

5 Personal & Business New Year Resolutions

Crikey - Jan 5th already!!
I have a couple of resolutions I need to stick to, for my business and personal life, so I’ll post them here as a reference to stick to.
Business
1. Target the local market
I’ve always believed the local market held a lot more business potential, but I’ve roundly failed to market to it. […]

Communities needs leadership

An interesting post from Creating Passionate Users highlights the issue of Collective Intelligence vs the Dumbness of Crowds.
The difference is very keen, and as a forum admin it’s something I’ve had to learn myself.
The basic gist is that Plato was right - benevolent dictators are very popular.
And, with online communities, if you’re a user and […]