This past month or so I’ve found renewed interest in all things internet marketing and social media, and begun a crash course in building my understanding back to where it was, and even surpassing it. This website, now just completing its 14th year of operation, has become a crash course in search engine optimization and marketing effectiveness. At the peak I was entertaining over 10,000 unique visitors a month, mostly via search engines. Of course, four years ago or so my updates became decidedly less regular and traffic, appropriately, died down. I went so far as removing the site from search engine spiders when I was seeking a job prior to Ingram Micro, which should have put a death spike through any traffic hopes I may have. That said, oddly enough over 1,000 of you are still piling in on a monthly basis. More interesting to me is that less than 20% of my traffic is search engine related right now, as I build that effectiveness back up again, and more than half is inbound linking from other sites. In fact, over 1,700 websites link to this one, which blows my mind.
So today I visited www.websitegrader.com to test the current marketing effectiveness of the site as I begin the process of raising that effectiveness. I was ecstatic to get this review:
A website grade of 91/100 for www.overanything.com means that of the hundreds of thousands of websites that have previously been evaluated, our algorithm has calculated that this site scores higher than 91% of them in terms of its marketing effectiveness. The algorithm uses a proprietary blend of over 50 different variables, including search engine data, website structure, approximate traffic, site performance, and others.
I could instantly raise the effectiveness with some back end tools that are currently being implemented, and perhaps new blogging software that would allow for different META tags and TITLES on each page (currently, my age-old blog software is repeating the same tags for all 3,000+ pages). Even my traffic ranking is pegged by Alexa as being in the top 12.25% of all websites. Go figure. Should be fun to see where I can take things from here as I proactively begin to put the tools I’ve learned, and continue to learn, into action.
Today’s Random Links
PETA urges Ben & Jerry’s to make breast milk ice cream.
Clay Aiken is gay! Wow. Who saw that one coming?
HBO Canada is launching next month.
Today’s Returning Shows
Criminal Minds (9 p.m.)
CSI: NY (10 p.m.)
Lipstick Jungle (10 p.m.)
Now Playing
Dennis Wilson – Pacific Ocean Blue

So after 18 years of playing guitar, and one single outdoor gig, I’m hitting the stage at my church this Sunday for my first time performing on a stage in front of people. Little bit nervous about that. Thankfully, they’re very understanding and have assured me that they will allow no volume to come from my rig, so essentially I’ll be playing along but nobody will hear, so I’m free to screw up all I want with freshman jitters. My first real time on stage, where my noise will be audible, is October 12th. If Ingram gave me one thing it was the chance to get my public speaking fears under control, but this is going to be a real test of that control. All I have to do now is learn four songs I’ve never heard before Sunday morning, in between interviews this week. Good times!
Ever wanted to be a superhero? Kodak’s giving you a chance with www.makemesuper.com. Check it out and enjoy your temporary super-ness.
Congrats to our very own KP, once again getting published! This time it’s ‘Replacement Pitcher‘. Sadly, we must wait until next June to obtain our copies. Next up is ‘Fess Up, Jessup’. *sigh*
Now, t’is my 8th anniversary today so I must get to preparing the house for a pleasant welcome home to the lass that’s put up with me all this time.
Today’s Random Links
‘Big Brother’ Dan finally answers the question: Why so much yelling in the diary room?
Google’s iPhone killer – the G1 or Dream Phone(?) – is out soon.
Sorry Warner, ‘Hari Puttar’ is still coming to theatres.
Today’s Returning Shows
Law & Order: SVU (10 p.m.)
Now Playing
Leo Kottke – 6- and 12-String Guitar

The election is off to a slow start here in Caledon, although I get the impression things are about to take off purely from a visibility factor. Our local Liberal candidate is a young professional named Rebecca Finch; you can read up on her on her campaign website at www.rebeccafinch.ca. I had actually gone through her site last week and was looking for the right time to post, and seeing as Stephane Dion was called out for endorsing her today in light of his anti-Chris Reid comments it should be an interesting ride.
Aside from her day job Rebecca is Editor at Large of a site called The Metaball, stated to be “keeping our politicians accountable”. The site contains any number of opinion pieces running through racism, Christianity, and of course, politics. The item in question by the Tory campaign is a campaign blog started back in June, in anticipation of her campaign no doubt.
Rebecca has a lot to say on her blog, and it’s of no surprise I disagree with much of it. One article that made me question her logic and ability to govern our riding is titled ‘Step Out of The Car, Ma’am, and Show Me Your Vein‘. I can imagine some politicians were scared of random alcohol tests when they started as well, and I’m hoping most of us like the idea we can drive without concern of drug-fueled cars in our area. Finch’s argument against these random tests includes a few gems:
Say you’re at a party where people are smoking pot in an enclosed area. When you leave that party, if you are pulled over for one of these tests, you will come up positive for marijuana… This could be true, and the reason you’d come up positive is because you’d be high on marijuana. Perhaps it would be in one’s best interest to not be in the habit of driving home from parties where people are smoking up in enclosed areas.
Say you’re addicted to poppy seeds and have eaten tons of them in a short time before you’re randomly pulled over – you’re going to show a false positive for opium or heroin. I’ll ignore the apparent rampant addiction to poppy seeds I wasn’t aware was present in society, but I won’t ignore the fact that testing positive for opium due to a poppy seed addiction would not be a false positive; you’d be high on opium!
I’m interested in whether this blog, and the logic held within, starts garnering even more attention on this election. Suffice to say I have no intention of voting for Rebecca Finch, even if I agree with her that our incumbent David Tilson is taking this riding for granted.
Today’s Random Links
A Flash game that allows you to pick Mark-Paul Gosselaar’s new hairstyle!
Gospelr = Twitter for Christians. I guess the domain was available.
Microsoft used a Mac to create their “I’m a PC” ads.. oops.
Today’s Premieres
Big Bang Theory (8 p.m.)
Boston Legal (10 p.m.)
CSI: Miami (10 p.m.)
Dancing with the Stars (9 p.m.)
Dr. 90210 (10 p.m.)
Heroes (9 p.m.)
How I Met Your Mother (8:30 p.m.)
Two and a Half Men (9 p.m.)
Now Playing
Matt Nathanson – Some Mad Hope

Good news, ‘Canadian Idol‘ fans. Every year here in Bolton we have the Fall Fair at the Albion Bolton Community Centre. It’s got a midway with rides and prizes, 24-hour goldfish, carnies, drag races and demolition derbies, cattle, just about all the fun stuff you might expect. This year, however, it’s got Drew Wright and Mookie Morris. Seems quite the coup to snag these two ‘Idol’ hopefuls who will be performing surrounding bike races and the demolition derby. Drew’s in on Friday night, Mookie on Saturday. Who’s in? I can sweeten the deal by pointing you towards The Angry Tomato and their alligator appetizer. A chance to hang out with Mookie Morris, named after the game-winning Mookie Wilson home run, and eat alligator meat! True story.
Excellent news on the ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ front, assuming we’re all over the fact that the theme song changed. Bob Cole is being replaced by Jim Hughson! The next game I hear Bob Cole call without frequent screw-ups will be the first, and I’m happy with this news.
Finally, ‘Big Brother’ fans, check out this blog posting from a fan who attended the finale for some insight from inside. Turns out most of the signs are plants by CBS! It’s true, the dude with the yellow “MARRY ME, KEESHA!” sign didn’t want to marry Keesha at all. Why bother, he can get the milk for free on YouTube.
Happy birthday to my sister, Kim! You ARE the birthday boy or girl. ;)
Today’s Random Links
Researchers have finally cracked the 3-ply barrier – like wiping with a lamb!
The funniest ad containing full frontal male nudity I’ve ever seen. (NSFW)
The best DVD news in a long time, I’ll be in line October 28th.
Now Playing
Marc Broussard – S.O.S. Save Our Soul

So I find myself in the unenviable position of having received a traffic ticket, my first in quite some time. In fact, since gas prices and old age drove me to start driving like my grandmother (slow and steady wins the mileage race) I’ve now received a traffic ticket and been involved in a fender bender. It’s enough to make a guy want to go back to Death Race 2000. This time around, however, I’ve decided (on the advice of the officer) to fight the ticket.
So here I thought it was really easy; sign your intention on the ticket, mail it in, wait for a trial date, dude doesn’t show, skip home lighting cigars with the $100 you saved. This, however, is not at all how it works. You have to actually get up, drive to a court house, stand in line, get a bunch of stamps, and now wait six to eight months for a trial date. I can’t imagine how impressed I would have been had I taken a day off work to do something like this, I suppose the belief is people will just pay up to avoid the hassle and lost opportunity cost of a day off. I did come home to a couple interview requests, though, so it appears everything’s coming up Jessup today.
I’ve somehow managed to become addicted to Twitter, even after thinking it was ridiculous when I first signed up. For me, I can see it being a fun way to keep family and friends up to date during vacations or extended absences and such. I’m also enjoying a look into the daily lives of people I know only socially. Strange little beast. I need to come up with a social networking website so I can get my share of the interweb billions. Stay tuned.
Today’s Random Links
Prefix looks at the 10 best albums coming out Uncle Tupelo’s break-up.
Ron Wilson thinks the Leaf defense core is strong like bull.
McCain is to the Blackberry as Gore is to the interweb?
Today’s Returning Shows
Biggest Loser: Families (8:00PM)
House (8:00PM)
Now Playing
The Sadies – New Seasons