BlogHer Archives - Page 11 of 23

Talking with Ann Smarty, SEO Expert

I talked with Ann Smarty for BlogHer. She is the SEO expert for Blue Glass, a new marketing firm. She runs her own SEO company called SEO Smarty. The article Top SEO Women put her in with the top ranked SEO experts. Her site at annsmarty.com, offers SEO consulting. She blogs regularly at Search Engine Journal.

Ann started a new project aiming to help guest bloggers find blog owners accepting guest posts at MyBlogGuest. It’s a free-to-join community focusing on guest blogging and everything around it.

Most of the questions I asked her relate to building blog traffic. Her advice for bloggers isn’t the usual SEO advice you normally see. Read the full post at BlogHer.

Looking to hire?

Etsy is hiring. Like any web-based company, they are advertising the job openings on the Internet.

Maybe you aren’t familiar with Etsy. You need to know that it is a marketplace for handmade and vintage items–a community of creative people. That’s important to keep in mind. Etsy is advertising for coders and programmers and database gurus who fit in with the company mindset. A creative, handmade, vintage mindset. A code as craft mindset. Here’s the ad that announced they were hiring.

I could watch that video 20 times, I find it is so hilarious. All the sacred cows of web standards, and programming best practices—really, anything Internet related—turned on its head in a creative twist that is just plain funny.

It’s a brilliant bit of job posting because it tells you about the company and the kind of people you’d be working with. It links to this staid listing of all the jobs available at Etsy.

Which one would tempt you to apply? The perfect-for-you job title, say “Interaction/User Interface Designer,” or the video?

A lot of companies need Interaction/User Interface Designers and workers like that these days. And a job is a job, right? Etsy found a way to make their jobs look like more fun than any other job. Brilliant, I say again.

(Posted in a different form at BlogHer.)

10 Terrific Tech Blogs by Women

Tech tips, geeky how-tos, thoughtful analysis of issues, news about the latest gadgets, ideas for improving your blog—you’ll find it all in these 10 terrific tech and science blogs. They just happen to be written by women.

I. Hacker Chick

The Hacker Chick Blog is a beautiful starting point. I say beautiful because the graphics on this blog are stunning: everything from the image representing the hacker chick (software developer Abby Fichtner) to the icons and images used as illustrations are visually outstanding. Hacker Chick writes about designing WordPress themes, agile computing, programming, social media, and business.

In Build Your Startup From the Heart, she said,

The world, it seems, is changing. If you ask Daniel Pink, he’ll say that our “left-brained” aptitudes — logical, analytical skills, the types of things schools reward us for — are no longer sufficient if we want to remain competitive. These are, after all, the very things being automated by computers and outsourced at rates we can’t compete with if we want to pay our mortgages, or, say, eat.

If we truly want to succeed, we need to pull in those right-brained skills that our schools & employers have tried so hard to beat out of us — artistry, empathy, play, and story telling.

You don’t find many programmers who think this way, or who can pull it together the way Hacker Chick does.

II. Pars3c

Elizabeth Howell has her head in the stars with her blog Pars3c. The blog is pronounced “PAR-seck,” and astronomical term that gives you an idea of the topics you’ll find on the blog. This blog is about astronomy, spaceflight, science and telescopes. Big telescopes.

In 500 explosions, 500 reasons to love satellites, Elizabeth said,

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again — the greatest thing about space-borne observatories is they have 24-hour darkness to enjoy. This makes it easier to catch fleeting cosmic events, even explosions.

Like that moment last month when NASA’s Swift telescope saw its 500th gamma-ray burst.

III. Blogger Buster

Blogger Buster is for Google Blogger users. It’s written by Amanda Kay. Blogger templates and tutorials are the heart of this blog.

For example, you can learn about 90 Related Posts with Thumbnails for Blogger – New Version by BloggerWidgets

Aneesh of Blogger Widgets has developed a new “Related Posts” script for Blogger which displays thumbnails of images in addition to linked post titles.

In appearance, this Blogger “add-on” is similar to the LinkWithin script. Each section is highlighted in a complementary colour when the mouse hovers over it, and the entire section is clickable, leading to the URL of the “related post” displayed.

IV. Girl Developer

Girl Developer is written by Sara, a software engineer. Her topics range among .net and WAN, tech events, software reviews, and life as a developer. There’s always a dash of style and humor in the mix. Recently she wrote about Meeting Wendy Friedlander, a fellow developer who is undergoing cancer treatment.

Meeting Wendy prompted her to put together a fund-raising dinner:

I put this dinner together because I think it would be wonderful if we could all help Wendy a little as a community. She’s one of our own and it really could be any one of us. We’re having a dinner for Wendy, and if you’re in the NYC area and can make it we’d love to have you. It will be a great time of fellowship with other developers and I’m looking forward to it. If you can’t make the dinner or aren’t from the area there is a paypal link here for donations.

V. Do it Myself Blog

Do it Myself Blog is the work of Glenda Watson Hyatt, the left-thumb blogger—so called because she types only with her left thumb due to her cerebral palsy. Glenda writes about accessibility on the web and in life, about events she attends and speeches she gives with the help of her computer’s voice, about new technology, entrepreneurship, and trying to find an accessible bathroom while at tech events.

Lately Glenda has been searching for the perfect app for her iPad that will help her with chores like making hair appointments and ordering burgers. In The iPad as an Affordable Communicator: A Follow-up Review, she commented

While I was at the mall last Tuesday, i also made a hair appointment. In the old days I would have typed a note before leaving home. Or, I would have asked Darrell to call for an appointment.

Tuesday i pulled out my iPad, typed a message in the Proloquo2Go app and showed it to the receptionist. An appointment was made for the following day.

All is not golden with the Proloquo2Go app, however, as Glenda discovers when she tries to order food.

VI. Apophenia

Apophenia is danah boyd’s blog. This blog deals with big ideas. It focuses on issues: trends, analysis, data about how young people use technology, and topics like privacy.

In “for the lolz”: 4chan is hacking the attention economy , danah explains what 4chan is with a “Newbie Note” before she begins her discussion of the site:

Newbie note: If you have never heard of 4chan, start with the Wikipedia entry and not the website itself. The site tends to offend many adults’ sensibilities. As one of my friends put it, loving LOLcats or rickrolling as outputs is like loving a tasty hamburger; visiting 4chan is like visiting the meat factory. At some point, it’d probably help to visit the meat factory, but that might make you go vegetarian.

danah boyd is quite possibly one the the smartest people on the planet, so running big ideas through her mind and getting to read the results of her thinking on her blog is a true privilege.

VII. The Female Perspective of Computer Science

The Female Perspective of Computer Science is from Gail Carmichael, who is working on a doctorate in Computer Science. Her fields of study include educational entertainment and augmented reality, both of which get discussed on the blog. Other topics include visual computing, games, events, computer science, and women.

Recently she wrote about Getting the Hang of iPhone Development.

I needed to learn how to develop for the iPhone since the projects I want to work on next will be games for the device. This task was somewhat daunting, given that I hadn’t really even used a Mac before, let alone Objective-C or Xcode. Luckily, there are some really great resources out there that you should check out if you are also just getting started.

So far, the most invaluable resource for me has been the Stanford iTunes U lectures on iPhone development. After watching the lectures via iTunes, you can download all the course materials, including slides and assignments.

A free course from Standford so you can learn how to develop for iPhone? Dang, that’s great information!

VIII. Geek Feminism Blog

Geek Feminism Blog has over a dozen writers, mostly women. A few male feminists in the mix is a good thing. The range of topics you find there is as wide and deep as the minds of its many contributors. The frequent linkspam posts are a great source for exploring the blogosphere on topics related to technology and women. Other topics you might find explored there are comics, conferences, gender, open source, programming, star trek, and just about anything else you can think of that interests geeks.

In July 6th is the last day for super early bird rate for Grace Hopper Celebration, Terri tells us,

If you haven’t heard of GHC before, it’s a really amazing conference for women involved in technology (especially geek feminists!). Not only does it tip the usual ratios on their heads (hello, >90% women! And yes, that means men are welcome.) it’s one of very few conferences where I can say that even the most technical talks are interesting and well-presented.

IX. CSS, JavaScript and XHTML Explained and Standardista

CSS, JavaScript and XHTML Explained is by Estele Weyl. The title is self-describing, but doesn’t completely cover the range of what you find there. You might learn about conferences, girl geeks, browser quirks, accessibility and other web development related topics. Estele has another blog called Standardista: CSS3, JavaScript and HTML5 Explained that is similar but devoted to newer technologies such as HTML5. As the technologies move forward, the newer blog may get the most additions.

Estele is great at putting things in an organized matrix to help you quickly see what is what with a topic. For example, in HTML5 Input Attributes & Browser Support, she created a handy table to show which browsers support which of the new HTML5 form elements.

X. MacTips

I saved a great one for last: MacTips, the very helpful guide to Macs, iPhones and iPads from Miraz Jordan. The tips never end at MacTips. For example, Use Safari 5′s Reader for easier reading on the web and How to change app Preferences on an iPhone.

Miraz always has clear directions with informative illustrations and screen shots to guide you through all things Mac.

Cross-posted in slightly different form at BlogHer.

How to Choose a Domain Name or Username

Is this you? You’re ready to start a new blog or buy a new domain name. You want to avoid problems with trademarked names, branded names, and domain names. How do you find a name that someone else doesn’t already have a claim to?

The question What if someone is already using my user name?…and other assorted questions in the How to Blog (Better) group discussion is a good example of the issues many people face. The domain name of choice is available, but someone is already using the username on Twitter. If you can’t match your domain name or blog with the name you intend to use on Twitter (or Facebook, or anywhere else) then how do you create a brand identity for yourself?

What if you choose a blog name or username that someone is using somewhere and they come after you for infringing on their brand or trademark? Not fun.

Early in the process of choosing a name for yourself, you need to take a look at all the possibilities.

A good way to start is simply to search for the name you want and see what turns up. If I search for vdebolt, I find almost 9,000 results. Here are the first few, including a Twitter name, a domain name, and an unexplained association with a site called Web Teacher.

Virginia DeBolt = vdebolt. I pretty much have a lock on the name vdebolt. (By the way, the reason Web Teacher shows up in a search for vdebolt is because of an hCard. You can learn how to use hCards here.) If someone came along and started using that username, I would object.

Even if I didn’t own the vdebolt.com domain, I might be using the vdebolt username in several places. That was the issue in What if someone is already using my user name?…and other assorted questions.

You can do a username search.

Google found 438 instances of the username vdebolt, with the first results coming from Twitter. Only the first few results are relevant, but they would be enough to show that the name is already in use if you were considering using it.

If you want to sign up for a free blog at wordpress.com or blogspot.com, you won’t be allowed to select a username that’s already in use.

My friend Rachel recently decided to start blogging. She writes about food, gardening, and cooking. She selected the name And then make soup. This name was available as a username on both blogspot.com and wordpress.com. She started with a Blogspot blog, but decided in favor of WordPress. Rachel has this username on both the big free blogging platforms, although she’s putting her posts at And Then Make Soup on WordPress.

Rachel doesn’t want to buy a domain for her blog, but it’s a good idea to check to see if the name is being used by someone with a domain. There are several ways to check on the availability of a domain name.

One way is to type the name in the browsers location bar and see what comes up. If I try to navigate to andthenmakesoup.com, I get an error message.

I recently wrote a chapter for a book called InterACT with Web Standards and needed an imaginary domain name to use for some student exercises. I choose Battle Hill Bistro or www.battlehillbistro.com as the name and checked to make sure it wasn’t real by typing the URL in the browser to see if anything came up. It didn’t.

Another way to check on whether a domain name is available is to go to one of the domain registrars and search. Here’s the form from Go Daddy. Type in the name, choose .com or .net or .whateveryouwant and see if it’s available.

It turns out that this domain is available in just about any form you’d want. And, Go Daddy will be glad to sell it to you.

Rachel is thinking about buying and parking (parking a domain means you own it but you don’t have anything live on it) several of these domain names, just so no one can come along and steal the name she wants to have associated with her blog/brand. She may have done it by now.

Rachel already can claim some association with the phrase and then make soup. A search on the phrase brings up her wordpress blog. You also see an unrelated Twitter result and an unrelated result from Simply Recipes, which as most foodies know, gets superb search engine results.

Even though and then make soup is simply a phrase, and you can’t copyright that, Rachel could justify a sense of ownership in the phrase. If someone else started using it as a username on another blog, on Facebook or in some other way, she might complain and try to call a halt to it.

If you search for andthenmakesoup all run together like a domain or blog name, you also turn up Rachel’s blog.

This doesn’t really protect her if someone decided to buy a domain and start a standard web site by the same name as her blog. But the existence of the blog should give pause to anyone thinking of buying the domain. They wouldn’t want to be losing traffic to a site with a similar name.

Tech Crunch recently ran an article about Yahoo! buying flicker.com that included an interesting quote from Caterina Fake of flickr.com explaining how the whole e-less Flickr name happened when Flickr worked around already the existing Flicker domain name. (Interesting that the unintended consequence of Flickr’s decision to go e-less was a new trend in that direction by a series of other web sites such as tumblr.com.)

A consideration I’ve learned about the hard way is the relative value of the more common domain options like .com, .net., and .org. When I bought webteacher.ws all the more common choices were gone. I should have considered that enough reason to choose something completely different, but I went with the .ws. It was a mistake. It’s too obscure. Nobody remembers it. And the more common names like webteacher.com take away traffic that might be meant for me. Too bad I made that poor choice before the Flickr came along, I might have tried to hit the jackpot with webteachr.com!

You want to be unique and memorable. You want to avoid trouble from other people using the same name. The best way is to do your homework before you settle on a name. See what’s already out there. Then make a choice.

Cross posted at BlogHer, where there is additional trademark information.

Better the second time around

What’s hot here on Web Teacher?

What about some of the other stuff that I write? A couple of items published as the TGB Elder Geek are worth a second look.

At eHow, these articles are getting some attention.

At BlogHer, these articles are hot.

Is this support call hilarious? What do you think?

A call for help with a technical problem to a line called Builder Support is making the rounds of the Internet. During the anniversary of Pac-Man last week, there was a small Pac-Man game on the Google search page. The call is about that noisy Pac-Man game. Most people think it’s worth linking to and tweeting about because it’s hilarious. Here’s the call.

Did you think it was hilarious? Or even a bit funny? Responses from Twitter all retweet the idea that the call is hysterically funny. This person also called it a Google fail.

Check this video out — Old Lady’s Google Pac-Man Problem: Hilarious Tech Support Call http://youtu.be/xYWuW7_WfJU GOOGLE FAIL!!Thu Jun 10 20:12:23 via webCrystal Jones
CrystalSaysSo

Everyone also assumes it is an old lady calling, a senior citizen. Who else could be so ignorant, right?

Old Lady Calls Tech Support To Remove Google Pac-Man–Hilarity Ensues http://huff.to/9UuJb5 #LOL /via @low78Thu Jun 10 20:10:03 via Twittelator Andrea
KshrGirl

The headlines on Alltop and Techland both refer to the caller as either an old lady or a little old lady. The people at College Humor were particularly unsympathetic. I guess college kids never feel stymied by new information.

These are my feelings about the call.

The support dude, Brian, was rude initially and actually laughed at the woman’s question. Why isn’t anyone talking about that?
The caller, on the other hand, was very polite. She even asked if he had time to stay on the line while she tried his suggestion.
After about three minutes of useless conversation, Brian finally figures out that he really does need to do something useful to help the woman with her problem. He doesn’t explain it very well, but he finally manages to get her to shut down the browser tab for Google. He doesn’t mention the volume control icon next to the game display.
Who says she’s old? She’s a woman. She doesn’t know much about using a browser. Does that make her old? Is her polite behavior a symptom of age? You could argue that her voice “sounds old.” On the other hand, I am old, but people constantly tell me my voice sounds “young.” (Like this interviewer did.) Am I young or am I old on the phone? Why does it matter?
Why is it funny? Was everyone who laughed born knowing how to close a browser tab? I don’t think so. They had to learn the first time just like the caller did. Is the experience of learning to close a browser tab different at age 6 than at age 96?

I’m pretty tech savvy. The other day my granddaughter brought me her netbook to show me something. I couldn’t figure out how to scroll down the page. Turns out there was a lovely little device next to the track pad meant just for scrolling. But I didn’t know that. I couldn’t read the page. Even the most accomplished user has an occasional moment of beginner’s mind. This story rubs me wrong because of the assumption that anyone so afflicted with a case of beginner’s mind regarding a browser problem must be old.

Maybe you don’t agree with me. Maybe you think the call was the funniest thing you’ve heard in years. Or maybe you’d like me to shut up because my complaints about ageism are bugging you. Don’t worry, they’ll be gone tomorrow. (Maybe.)

Cross-posted at BlogHer.

Big Hits at BlogHer

A spring in New Mexico photo to accompany a last bit of self-promotion.

These are among my most popular posts at BlogHer.