links for 2007-07-31
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by Nic on 31-07-2007
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Is Google Analytics having issues?
Filed Under (Random Note) by Nic on 30-07-2007
Tagged Under : analytics, Statistics
Is it just me or does it seem like Google Analytics on a dip?
Here a screenshots of the last few days of three of my sites:
Either my code suddenly got misplaced in all three websites, or google analytics is on the frits, or… HORROR… my sites just suck!?
Big website, big adspend and a blogger blog?
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by Nic on 30-07-2007
Tagged Under : Advertising, Blogger, Blogging, Blogs, Corporate, vottle, vottleblog
Vottle has pumped some serious moola in to their advertising campaign recently. I think we have all heard them on 5fm or whichever other radio station it was.
Yet I am left a bit baffled and bemused at their approach to blogging. They clearly believe they have a massive product if they are willing to pump money in to their campaign. They clearly have the money to do this, but they have a BLOGGER blog?
Not only is the website a .com url, which means they have a hosting package attache to that .com, but they most probably have a great big hosting package to cope with the traffic they built up over the ad campaigns. So I ask you, where is the .com/blog blog? What are you thinking?
Blogger might have been cool a couple of ages ago, but now blogger blogs are filled with porn, spam and clutter. .com blogs are the way forward, .co.za blogs are a very suitable substitute, but a blogger.com blog is not acceptable. They might have redirected the blog to “blog.vottle.com” But they have chosen to keep the Blogger template. This really makes no sense to me.
I suppose that any online presence in the form of a blog is better than no online presence. But surely an ONLINE company knows better and knows about better services?
Lock it up and throw away the key. Get a Wordpress blog.
How to boost your rankings
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by Nic on 30-07-2007
Tagged Under : ducttapemarketing, Technorati
This simple tip comes courtesay of a Technorati Top 500 blog: GET NOTICED BY A TECHNORATI TOP 500 BLOG…
This recently happened to me in a very strange way. I would live to say that I wrote the most incredible post of my life. I would love to say that a very pronounced blogger picked up my genius and subsequently blogged about it. I would love to say this. Alas, it would not be the truth.
My linklove came from my del.icio.us daily posts from my bookmarks. A sheer stroke of luck. The blogosphere ranking gods smiled on my personal blog and gave me some love. FINALLY.
So, the Duct Tape Marketing Blog picked up on my del.icio.us posts that are automatically posted to this blog at a certain time. To be perfectly honest I was considering dropping the posts because lately that is all that one sees on my blog, my delicious bookmarks.
It looks likes they are staying and it looks like I am on the rise again (however slow that rise might be).
links for 2007-07-28
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by Nic on 28-07-2007
links for 2007-07-27
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by Nic on 27-07-2007
I’m going down…
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by Nic on 27-07-2007
Tagged Under : Blogging, charts, Rants
And it isn’t ’cause you ain’t around baby!
I am baffled, bemused, condusticated and confused. This blog just keeps on dropping down the charts. Which ones I hear you ask? All of them.
It’s strange. Sometimes you can feel like a rockstar and sometimes you just feel like the rock. Let it roll I guess, let it roll.
links for 2007-07-26
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by Nic on 26-07-2007
Dog murderer gets R10 000 fine
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by Nic on 26-07-2007
Tagged Under : activism, animal rights, human rights, protesting
I want to ask a question: How does a person who killed a dog get processed through the criminal system so quickly?
I get it, he decapitated a dog. It’s horrific. But in the same breath, it was a dog, not a human, but we are able to get activists rallying around the issue. When a murderer escapes, when a rapist sits in prison for months and years no-one says a flippin’ word. Explain it to me please.
While you are at it, please also explain it is that some criminals sit in prison for ages, others are never processed, some cases take 3 years, but this dude goes straight through? HOW?
This actually ties in nicely with something I blogged on SA Rocks today. Why do people rally and march around negative issues? Why do people rally and march when the march really means nothing in the long run. A dog was killed, in an extremely messed up way, the dude has been punished, the activists have had their say and BAM things go back to normal.
WHAT IS THE POINT? In my opinion we should be rallying for the good things. Make people proud of what we have, support those who have done well, take care of their animals and help the country. I know it is in our nature to berate, but why not uplift once in a while?
Let the man pay his R10 000 and then we can all go and complain about something else.
Things to remember when redesigning your blog
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by Nic on 26-07-2007
Tagged Under : Blogging, CSS, design, tips
I have recently done an overhaul on SA Rocks with the help of Vince.
Some very specific things came out of the redesign. I know that the following thoughts/tips/ideas wont be shared by everyone but this is what I learnt and think should be remembered:
1. Content is king (Cliche, i know)… always.
2. Design sometimes gets in the way of content.
3. Colours are not always good. Muting the colours could help your readers.
4. Sometime all a reader wants is a black background, a white page and some text.
5. Sidebars need to be cleaned out, much like a closet. Be ruthless, delete all the services, bars, tools, widgets and extras that are cluttering your sidebar. Sometimes your blogroll might even be the issue.
6. Slick design is good, but don’t think your readers are stupid. They know what is hot and what blows. If you are missing the point, call in for assistance.
7. Outside assistance might be hard to come by but is worth finding. A second perspective on your blog should always be welcome and is often needed.
8. Don’t screw with your CSS too much. SIMPLE IS BETTER.
9. K2 is not so shit hot, make sure to choose your template/theme carefully. Ensure that you can work with the CSS and the basic theme setup.
I think that is it. I tried to get to 10, but fell short. Alas, what can one do!?
I hope this helps and I hope that everyone has some thoughts on the SA Rocks template.
links for 2007-07-25
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by Nic on 25-07-2007
Shady looking character
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by Nic on 25-07-2007
Tagged Under : cyanide and happines
Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net
links for 2007-07-24
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by Nic on 24-07-2007
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South African government to expel the children of senior ruling party officials, on the basis that they have destroyed education in Zimbabwe while their children were attending good schools in South Africa, America and Europe.
Citizen journalism floods in
Filed Under (Uncategorized) by Nic on 24-07-2007
Tagged Under : citizen journalism, flooding
The recent spate of flooding in the UK has proven to be a wonderful platform for citizens to feature on major news networks.
Watching Sky News this morning (yes, I watched Sky News this morning) I was astounded by the reports coming in on the channel. It seemed as though there were no employed “proffesional” journalists in the field. I’d say most, if not all of the footage from one report came solely from citizens suffering from the floods.
This makes sense since much of the country is underwater, which makes it tough for journalists, trucks, camera crews etc etc, to get to the places.
Mr Maher might find some point against this, but I feel that this is where CitJ is very relevant and useful. It might even be the logical way to cover this sort of event (can one call floods an “event”). Instead of asking one journalist to try and cover and entire span of tragedy, ask the people living it to send in their footage. It’s easy in todays day and age.
This streamlines the process, allows citizens to feel important and special because they had their footage played on TV and allows for the news station to appear to be caring about what is happening from the view of the citizens.
