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Website Optimization?
What does that even mean? To the thousands of new bloggers and webmasters come online daily, terms like website optimization must seem like they belong to a foreign language.
It’s not enough to just build your website, no matter how informative or attractive. You need to make sure you have a firm handle on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as well. Where do you get your traffic? How high is your site showing up in the search engines? If you have a keyword or a set of keywords that pertain to your website, how close to the top of the list will your site appear if someone types those keywords into Google, or Yahoo, or any other search engine? Do you want to attract visitors from a specific country or region?
Paying for traffic cannot always guarantee you get the kind of traffic you want. The best kind of traffic to attract is organic traffic, or those visitors who find your site through natural venues like the search engines or links on related sites. Therefore, you need for your site to be properly optimized to attract the traffic you want.
Now, when people ask me about website optimization, I often have a few well-worn tips and time-tested techniques, but I am absolutely not a guru in this arena. I always suggest that if you are serious about your traffic, especially if you are trying to get a small business of the ground, that you hire a website optimization company. Work with someone who drives the industry.
Yes, you probably could figure it out on your won, but it would probably takes untold hours of research, trial and error, and picking out tiny hints here and there on hundreds of industry discussion forums. I say just go right to the top and have someone who knows the game help you.
In mentally preparing form my grandmother’s funeral, it all somehow comes back to food for me. My female relatives were ALL known as fabulous, inventive cooks. In my rememberings, I have found myself looking through the piles of recipes Grandma gave to me over the years.
Grandma liked to turn back often to the simple recipes of her youth. One of her favorites was this very simple pound cake, the recipe having been given to her by a childhood friend.
1 stick of butter
1 stick of margarine
1/2 cup Crisco
3 cups sugar
5 whole eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Cream butter, margarine, Crisco, and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add flour, milk, and baking powder.
The need to remodel
I’ve lived in newer, updated homes for a long time. Now I am in an older home that is in perfectly good repair, but could absolutely use some updating to make it more attractive. In the current housing market, there is no need to sell this house. It is solid and sits on the biggest lot in a well-placed neighborhood. The outside is charming and tidy. The garage is bigger than most. You see my point, I’m sure. Why move when I can just update?
Why pay someone else?
Now, I am a lot of thing and two of those things are frugal and adventurous. I want to put in hardwood floors, change out the kitchen cabinets, and update the bathrooms. And, I want to make my very best effort to do it myself. I will pay a professional if it comes down to it, but I see no reason not to try my hand at remodeling first. I’ll save a boatload of cash and I’ll be learning new skills.
Do It Yourself
At this juncture, I have never actually done any remodeling on my won. I have painted and hung pictures, but that’s about it. That is why I am quite literally salivating as I read DoItYourself.com. For example, there is an article on installing hardwood floors that is informational. Of course, if you are more visual (like me) you’ll probably really dig the instructional DVD you can buy that walks you through the process. I’m also engrossed in their series of article on faux painting techniques. That’s right up my alley and probably the best place to start. I can get to the more difficult projects like cabinets and replacing a toilet later.
If the whole DIY trend is your thing, Visit DoItYourself.com for more and buy the DVD.
More food scares have been issued. First there is the E. coli laced organic beef. Now, another spinach recall due to salmonella.
Back when we lived in Gainesville we went in with another family and bought a grass-fed cow and had it butchered. Not only was that some of the least expensive, most incredible tasting beef I have ever had – it was safe.
I can take it or leave it when it comes to meat, but I adore spinach. I have been talking about putting in a small vegetable garden out back and today has 100% convinced me I need to go forward with my plans. One of my first crops will be spinach. I am convinced the nasty conditions in the fields and in packing plants are what is causing the problems. Think about what happens in the fields. Where do you think the transient workers go when they need to relive themselves? So you really think they bother to walk off and find a restroom? Don’t be silly.
I want to share everything with my daughter, but I also need to learn that she is too young to know how to properly treat some of my belongings. So far, I have had the self control to not give her all of my childhood dolls and the carious collector dolls I amassed over my lifetime. I’ve wanted to and it has been a struggle with temptation to just give in and let her have them.
Before I had a child, I could not imagine giving a small child an heirloom, but I suppose once you have your OWN child things are different.
I was just going through my jewelry bow, because writing about losing my wedding rings in an earlier post reminded me that I want to pack a little bit of nice jewelry to take with me to the funeral. I have my nice stuff packed away mostly, because Gigi is quite obsessed with my earrings and necklaces and at this point she is really too young to take care of them. I buy her inexpensive pieces of fashion jewelry to play with, but I try to keep the good stuff out of sight.
Just the other night I was letting her wear a very special necklace my mother had given me. We were picking up some food to use in her packed lunches and all of the sudden I heard an odd clattering sound on the floor of the store. Sure enough, the setting had popped right out of my necklace while Gigi was wearing it. I suppose it could have happened at any time if it was already loose, but it did indeed happen while she was wearing it.
A lot of the gold I was given for my wedding was taken from me in my divorce, so I want to keep safe the few really nice items that I still own.
A death will start you thinking about life, you know? I still have not got around to buying a life insurance policy. When I was married, I depended on the fact that my husband had policies for all of us through his job. That is gone now and I am not working. If I were to pass away, my daughter would still have financial needs. term life insurance is a confusing concept for me and I have been slowly gathering information, rates, and terms. I want to get a solid policy in place as soon as wisely possible. I want to go about my decision making in a methodical and well-planned matter. In other words, I want to work smart.
I am more than happy to have reps contact me via this blog. I will talk to anyone who thinks they have a good plan for me.
Well, the house is now officially on the market, and for far less than we paid for it at the end of 2005. The real estate industry did us all a massive disservice by standing by and cheering on the real estate bubble. Realtors were getting rich quick and no one cared to step back and wonder what would happen in the future. Even Miami real estate, which is generally a hot market in the state, is tanking.
On top of all the losses people are taking, what about the young, new families who just want to buy their first starter home? SOL and all that, I suppose.
And so now the countdown begins. Will our house sit on the market a year and a half, or will it sell quickly. Put up some prayers for us, will you?
I know I am in deep think mode, due to my grandma’s death. I know that is why I am spending precious brain time thinking about the most inane things. I was just sorting some laundry and wondering why after all my years of doing laundry and being well aware of the sock phenomenon, do I still find that we have socks without matches in nearly every load I wash? I set aside the single socks and after a year I have a small Easter basket full of loners…, and I finally give in and toss them all in the trash.
But, still.., why?
And why, when I have quite literally hundreds of pens in the house, do I look over at my pen mug here on my desk and see only broken pencils, crayons, scissors, a highlighter and some Barbie boots. Where are all my pens?
I suppose I need to stop thinking and start packing for our trip to WV.
I sometimes wonder if there aren’t more signs out there in the world than we think. When I was married, my husband and I both eventually lost our wedding bands. His was lost first, maybe at his office where he used to take it off to work on his computer. He was never very clear on where he may have lost it. I just eventually noticed he wasn’t wearing it and it was also not n the jewelry box where he told me it was.
When we moved from Gainesville to the Tampa area, our mover stole a good bit of my jewelry and I was never able to recoup the costs from the moving company. It was all he said, she said and got very convoluted. So, my wedding set was gone right about two months before my ex left the house.
Did losing our rings show a small sign of things to come?
Links links links! Todays’s online world is all about how your site is linked. It determines how you show up in the search engines. It determines your Page Rank and various other ranking systems. It can make or break just how profitable your website or blog can be in the end. It is difficult to stress just important both amount and quality of links are to your overall success.
The Alive blog directory is just one of a number of high-quality, well-organized directories out there that you can utilize to ensure your blog is plugged into to a quality link system. Offering a detailed network of blog categories, Alive allows both deep link and top level submission options. You can check out their subscription packages on their main site.
Make sure you make a solid effort to have your site linked in appropriate ways. It is best to make sure your links appear in context and on sites with a respectable ranking of their own. Always ask how long your link is ensured to be included.
My grandmother passed away this evening. Much loves goes out to Arlene Marie Watson for the beauty and encouragement she added to my life. She was always impressed with my accomplishments. And, she had the best skin in the world and when I was only 12 she taught me all about moisturizing every day and taking care of my skin. Thank you, Grandma.
She was 82 and was slowly slipping away from all of us due to her battle with Alzheimer’s. I know she remembered what matters, though.
The first time I ever used a GPS system in a car was back when we had the Toyota Pathfinder. I can’t even describe to you how quickly something like a GPS becomes part of your daily driving. When the lease was up on the Pathfinder, we ought a van and it did not have a GPS. Right before my ex-husband left, he bought a Dodge Charger with a GPS and I was, I will admit, jealous of that one feature.
A GPS is absolutely invaluable when you are traveling. In fact, I think it almost comes in handier when you are driving to an appointment in a part of town that you are not familiar with or finding your way to someone’s house for the first time. GPS systems are not perfect and they will often take you a slightly longer or more complicated way, but they ALWAYS get you there.
So, instead of trading in my perfectly good cars for new ones just to get a GPS system, I got a TomTom handheld GPS. In a word: it rocks.
Over at TigerGPS.com they say their biggest demographic for GPS systems is the male 45 and older group. I am not sure who they are asking, but this 35+ mommy is the biggest fan I know. I talk about my TomTom all of the time. If I could get a commission on every unit I have talked someone into buying in the past year, I could afford to take one heck of a vacation.
Think about it, ladies. You are driving with three loud kids strapped into the backseat. One insists they have to stop and pee right NOW. You are in a part of town you are not familiar with. Instead of getting all worked up and flustered and possibly even lost, you just tap the screen of the GPS and bring up the closet gas station. Talk about a sigh of relief.
There are quite literally hundreds of products to look at when you are shopping for a GPS. If you are like me, you will probably find the product reviews, buying guides, and product selector over at TigerGPS very helpful.
The news about home owners insurance in Florida is never good. I got quite excited early this year when the lawmakers in Tallahassee passed a lot of bills that looked like they might help home owners in the state. I have yet to meet a single person who says their rate has dropped. In fact, most people I have talked to have seen a drop, but only because their insurance company has dropped their policy and forced them to scramble and find a new insurance company or go with the evil Citizen’s insurance.
Out insurance tripped from last year. Nationwide did not driop us like they did 40,000 policyholders here in the state, but they are twisting our arms as hard as they possibly can. It’s sort of like a boss who gives you a bad review or withholds a raise in order to try and force you to quite a job.
Close to half of the policies Nationwide is dropping are in the Bay area’s tri-county region.
Nationwide is also cherry picking, which is something that Tallahassee worked hard to keep insurance companies from doing. Nationwide has one of the biggest pair of balls in the industry. They came right out and said that they intend to focus on automobile insurance here in Florida. That is cherry picking. They refuse to insure risky things like a home, but market like fiends to cover things like cars and drivers. Thieves. Big-balled thieves.
Granted, I do not have as many video game systems in the house now that I am single, nor do I have as many games. All those things had to be divided. Nonetheless, I still have my fair share of consoles and games. I did not get the Xbox 360, but I’ve had worse things happen. Obviously, I didn’t get the XBOX 360 video gameseither. I got the original and all the games that go with it, so all is well.
It’s not hard-wired in me to be a gamer, but after being married to someone who was all but addicted to gaming for as long as I was, it rubbed off on to a reasonable degree.
I’m a little more patient than my ex and don’t mind ordering games online. I don’t feel like I have to have a new game the day it comes out. I still remember waiting in line at one of the local video game stores at the crack of dawn to get a copy of Halo 2, so I could surprise my husband at the time. We would play on our 55-inch HD TV and I kid you not, the neighborhood kids would gather at our house. We were the most popular adults around. Some of the kids even bought their own controllers just to use at our house. It’s one of those games that I actually just liked to sit back and watch other people play, because that way I could enjoy the graphics instead of focusing in on shooting and stuff.
Have you SEEN the promo for Halo 3? Holy cow is all I can say. I pasted it in at the end of this post.
Game Quest Direct has a $10 off special for pre-orders of Halo 3. You know me and my absolute propensity for shopping online with coupon codes. I can hardly help myself. Actually, their site had weekly coupon specials, so all the better.
I was in the library today and the older man in line in front of me at the checkout was telling the girl at the desk that he figured he would eventually have to buy “one of those disk playing things”, because most of the recorded books were not on cassette tapes anymore, but disks. He seemed troubled by the notion.
The librarian pointed to this little display card on the desk and told him they have these brand new recorded books that don’t need a device, that they are self-contained. She pointed out the shelf across the library where they were stored and I actually left the line to check them out myself.
I love recorded books and often listen to them in the car. There are two problems with that setup though:
Gigi gets beyond bored when she is riding with me and I am listening to a book on CD
I have twice almost crashed the van while trying to change out the CDs and drive at the same time
So, these self-contained recorded books the library is offering now are called Playaway. I picked up two titles and went back up to the checkout desk. A librarian opened the cases and showed me the little device (about the size of a half-desk of playing cards) and the extra battery. Then he handed me a brand new pair of ear buds (and really nice ones, to boot.) Apparently I am allowed to keep the ear buds.
I had never heard of a Playaway before, but I can tell you that they rock. I kinda’ just tucked the player into my bra and started listening to the book. I’m a fan. I looked at the website and most titles cost between $30-$50, so I am not inclined to purchase any on my own just yet. But, I think I will make my way through most of the titles offered by my library system.
Maybe I’m just way behind the times when it comes to new technology, but this little find just made my day.
