Tag: websites

Thinking and Re-Thinking Domains

Carl Setzer
close up shot of a typewriter

Now, though, as I’ve spent so much time becoming a web developer, and have built my own page over at GitHub, I think it would be great to have domain that ties in with that work. So, CarlSetzer.com has been a blog for ages. The whole thing started over at Blogger, then I ported the domain over the WordPress years ago. And it’s a WordPress site to this day. So, with those two things, I’m wondering what I should do regarding domains.

Should I create a new domain, say CarlSetzer.blog for this site and use CarlSetzer.com as a hand coded and tech/professionally focused site? I have a hundred business cards coming with CarlSetzer.com as the address, so it makes a lot of sense to shift the blog. Plus, it has solid SEO with my name.

So, what do you think? Change this here blog to CarlSetzer.blog and make CarlSetzer.com into more of a business/tech thing? Or register CarlSetzer.io or something like it for the tech-biz side of my life? I’m really looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

Communicating The Bare Necessities

Carl Setzer
clear communications

This morning I was talking about the importance of brevity in communication. Elegant prose has its place, of course. But when you’re communicating information, say in a corporate environment, in the blizzard of information that is today’s modern landscape, crisp, clear language is critical. Bullet points, sentence fragments, focus on key elements, don’t bury the lede.

“Wait”, you might say, “isn’t this guy studying web development? Why’s he going on about writing and communication?” Well, remember what purpose a website serves: communication. It’s a delivery mechanism for information. Interactivity, color schemes, layout all need to serve the function of the site. Cool features, in and of themselves, at best are distractions unless they serve the reader/viewer.

So, with that, remember, when it comes to most “business writing”, focus on the bare (bear?) necessities.

Moz Chapter 3 KEYWORD RESEARCH

Carl Setzer
SEO Graphic

Another post based on this past quarter’s research on SEO via Moz

There are many key tools for determining a good keyword strategy. The first, and most important one, is the act of questioning. Starting with core questions is critical to developing the right focus on for the other research tools. Who are our customers? What are their goals? What do they want? How do they search? Once you have answers for these, you can explore several other tools like:

      • Google Keywords Planner
      • Google Trends
      • Moz Keyword Explorer
Google’s tools are perhaps the most important, as the vast majority of US based search is done via Google. Google Keywords gives you the ability to explore which keywords are relevant, which have high competition, and which have low competition. The “finding new keywords” tool looks particularly powerful. Google Trends is another tool that is worthy of adding to your toolbox. With it you can see what the world is searching for, both at the broadest levels as well as refined to the local or even hyper-local. Besides being able to search for specific keywords, you can also looking at macro trends across the internet. Moz, one of the leaders in digital marketing has their own Keyword Research tool. In many respects, it’s more powerful than Google’s. Especially for the Pro version. But even the free version has great details on their research dashboard, including keyword suggestions and SERP analysis.
With this type of work, you can determine the value of any keyword and build strategies around them.

Oh Dear God, More Autoplay Video Annoyances

Carl Setzer

 

Ok, gobs of us non-silicon types have vented on the internet about auto-play videos. But instead of listening to us, webdevs are now playing “here, hold my beer” in a case of outdoing each other in obnoxiousness. Just loaded a site that flooded my office with a cacophony of raucousness reminiscent of the Tower of Babble.  About 1 second in, I no longer cared, much less remembered, what I opened the page to read. Closed it and moved on, as is my policy.

So, again my webdevy chums, I know you folks need to capitalize on your work. I get it. But don’t render your site useless in either blinding greed or desperation.

Today: Of Note On The Internet

Carl Setzer

Dr. Anna Haus’ Forgotten Clinic In Germany

The most recent update from the Edge of Humanity, this one features many haunting images of this forgotten and neglected space.

I’ve always been fascinated by places like this, that people simply forgot. This home (I believe they both lived and worked out of this space) still has a Steinway!

How do such things slip from our consciousness? To the point of destruction by neglect.

That would be interesting to explore.

This is fascinating and worth reading.