I don’t have as many links this week – I’ve been SO busy – busy is good but I’ve been racing lately between work and family.

This week I have starting a business, Facebook, kittens and more.

Enjoy!

• 19 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started My Business – Erika shares what she wishes she had known before starting a business. I would have to agree with many of the items on this list. And, Redhead Writing is a pretty awesome site.

• Three Awesome Facebook Search Engines – If you are trying to locate information on Facebook, one of these resources might make it easier.
• placekitten If you need image placeholders for your new design, I highly recommend using place kitten. ;-)
• My Blog Got My Daughter Kicked Out of Preschool – The kid got kicked out because the school didn’t like what was being written about the preschool. (and I am SO sympathetic to the plight of the lice that just won’t go away)
• The Internet Explorer 6 Countdown – Even Microsoft wants IE6 to go away.
• Jogging Geese
  
• A box that Maru can’t get into – I adore this kitty.
  

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

(Anti) Social Lists 3/6/11

I’m always glad when November is over. When the time changes and it starts getting dark so early, I have a hard time getting used to it and feel sleepy all the time. But, by December I am used to it and feel like myself again. I’m also one of those off people who prefers Winter to Summer and I can’t wait for it to snow.

This week I have WordPress, blogging, holiday stuff, evil Comcast, and more.

Enjoy!

• Make the Visual Editor Actually WYSIWYG – This technique will make what you see in the WordPress visual editor match what you actually see on your site.
• Snow Business – An awesome Dalek snowman. Exterminate!
• 25 Ways to Use the Web to Find Content for Your Blog – If you’re looking for ideas for your blog posts, Danny Brown has an awesome list with 25 ideas.
• Women in Blogging: 125 Fearless Female Bloggers – An awesome list by Kristi Hines. And, yay! I’m on the list.
• How to Survive the Holidays with Your Ex: Seven Tips for Making the Holidays Bright – I don’t have too much of an issue with it because we worked out holidays in advance. And we do discuss the schedule at least 3-4 weeks in advance. The most important point is that it really is for your children and that the other issues need to be pushed aside during those times.
• Facebook Opens Page Promotions to Small Businesses, Drops Pre-Approval And Minimum Spend Requirements – This is huge news for small businesses who want to run promotions on their Facebook pages.
• Comcast Busted: New Tolls for Netflix Aren’t All You Should Worry About – I despise Comcast. Even more than Verizon. And here’s why.
• WordPress Swag Store – Get your WordPress t-shirts and hoodies here.
• How many factory farms are in your county? Factory farms are the main reason I became a vegetarian 11 years ago. Now there are a lot more options for obtaining meat from alternative sources but most still comes from these deplorable places. Found out how many there are where you live. Pennsylvania has a ton but Philadelphia county doesn’t really have any, since it’s just really the actual city.
• Silly little owl. :-)
  

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

(Anti) Social Lists 12/5/10

I’m in a bit of a posting pickle. I’ve stuck to the same posting schedule for well over a year now – Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and a list of links on Sunday. Usually, I write a number of posts in advance and the schedule isn’t an issue. But the last couple of weeks and especially this week I’ve been writing them at the last minute and am desperately trying to stick to the schedule.

Now, it’s a little bit of my own fault that I’m behind. I had some downtime last weekend and could have easily have written all of the posts for the week. But it was really hot and humid and I felt lethargic and lazy. So, in the mornings I did some client work and in the afternoon I played Tomb Raider ;-)

I know, I know. Playing a video game may not have been the best use of my time but it used to be one of my main hobbies and I’ve barely played anything in the last couple of years. And as much as I enjoy what I do to earn money, there should also be some downtime.

And then after not being so very busy I am incredibly busy this week. The feast or famine nature of freelancing is hard for someone like me to adjust to who typically schedules everything down to 15 minute blocks. But it’s all good because I want to get ahead before I take a mini-vacation next month.

I have a lot of ideas for posts but most of them will take more time to write-up then I can manage right now.

So here’s a post about not having time to write my posts (because of some laziness and then super busyness).

Today I’ve been wondering if it’s better to not stick to the schedule if I don’t have something worthwhile prepared. It is very hard for me to NOT stick to a schedule though …

But, I’m pretty sure it’s better to miss a day then to simply churn out something not all that interesting just for the sake of posting something … anything. Although, I could post some of my cat videos – most everyone loves stupid cat videos ;-)

What do you think?

photo credit: CatDancing

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Stick to a WordPress Posting Schedule … Or Not?

This week I have facebook, blogging, vegetarian recipes, coffee grounds and more.

Enjoy!

• Are Questions the Future of Facebook? – This Facebook application is in beta and allows you to ask and answer questions with your circle of friends. Sounds useful but I really hope they add this to fan pages as well as profiles. Maybe it will replace discussions, which are rarely used.
• 6 Ways to Constantly Produce Quality Blog Content – I do #’s 1-4 but I haven’t done 5 and 6. I am constantly adding drafts when I have a new idea and I stick to a consistent publishing schedule. And I usually write 1-2 weeks worth of posts in one day every other week.
• The Food Movement, Rising – A recent article by Michael Pollan, author of the Omnivore’s Dilemma about food and politics. Personally, I think Michael Pollan should be Secretary of Agriculture.
• 16 Ways to Reuse Old Coffee Grounds – I compost my coffee grounds – this list has things on it that I had no idea you could do with them.
• Budget-Friendly Fare: Vegetarian for a Day – As a vegetarian I don’t preach to others about my dietary choices but I do like to encourage people to eat less meat, especially meat that comes from factory farms. Here is a great list of vegetarian recipes.
• World Cup plans unveiled at ESPN – The World Cup started this week and here is the US broadcast schedule. (Go Spain ;-) And unlike the World Series, the World Cup does involve the entire World …
• Tiny Puppy vs Giant Cat
  

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

(Anti) Social Lists 6/13/10

I’ve got quite an assortment of links this week – I didn’t have many when I started but found a bunch at the last minute.

Enjoy

• 6 Ways to Kill Your Community – A snarky article that discusses how to increase your comments and completely destroy your community.
• Not Every Facebook Fan Page Needs an Application – A great article on creating a custom facebook fan page with the FBML application.
• How to Personalize Your Google Calendar Background – I don’t spend too much time staring at my calendar but it’s good to know that you can change the background, if you want to.
• Phineas Gage – I came across the strange story of Phineas Gage (awesome name) and thought I would share it. I don’t want to give anything away but the whole thing is pretty unbelievable.
• 40 Awesome Tutorials and Techniques for WordPress Theme Developers – A lot of great resources for developing WordPress themes.
• 27 Ways to Breathe Life into Your Blog’s About Page – This page has a lot of great tips for your about page. I know mine needs to be updated.
• Things are amazing and everyone’s unhappy.
  
• Bert and Ernie Rap
  

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

(Anti) Social-Lists 8/16/09

Recently I’ve been thinking that not enough attention is given to the entertainment industry and celebrity culture. I’m considering leaving WordPress and starting a celebrity and gossip blog.

I just haven’t been able to decide what to focus on.

These themes do provide inspiration, however, so maybe you guys can help me decide on the focus of my new blog.

David Beckham
Most of you know that I love soccer. I do not, however, like David Beckham. Perhaps I could learn to since he has helped make soccer so awesome in the United States. What would the LA Galaxy and the MLS be without him? Well, probably exactly the same – really, really bad.

Soccer-Football
If the first Beckham theme wasn’t ugly enough, then I have the choice of this one.

Megan Fox
I don’t even know who Megan Fox is but she must be awesome to have an entire theme devoted to her. I could become her biggest fan and start blogging about her.

Audrey Hepburn Stencil
Or, maybe I could focus on dead celebrities. Where’s the Kurt Cobain theme?

Vader Black
I could also start the biggest Star Wars fan site. Hmm … my ex is the biggest Star Wars fan I know so maybe not. I asked my daughter the other day if her Dad’s house was filled with Star Wars stuff. She replied, “Not all of it.”

V for Vendetta
Ok, I actually really liked this movie. But, I think I would run out of things to discuss after a month tops.

Pirates of the Carribean Theme
I do adore Johnny Depp so why not start blogging about my least favorite films of his.

Sponge Bob
I don’t know much of anything about Sponge Bob but I think my kid would be thrilled if I started writing about him and Squidward.

Oh, and Happy April Fools Day. ;-)

photo credit: pbo31

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Help Me Select a WordPress Theme for Celebrity Blogging

• Enhance your blog posts with free high quality images – A guide to the best free high quality stock images.

• Grief Counseling for Bloggers – David Bradley wrote this article when I was complaining about losing my page rank. It’s a humorous look at how bloggers react when events, such as lost passwords, dropped page ranks, and a decrease in RSS subscriptions, occur.
• Car Free Mondays: A Series Featuring Car Free Women in LA – Siel, at Green LA Girl, has been writing a series about women who live in LA and don’t own cars. I don’t own a car, but I live in a big city with good public transportation, and it’s fascinating for me to read how women are living car-free in a city where supposedly everyone drives.
• Top Ten List of People to Unfollow on Twitter – Many lists of top 10 users on Twitter have been written – 10 Ten in Social Media, Top Ten Environmentalists, etc. In this article, Shannon Whitley lists the top ten types of people to unfollow on Twitter. It’s funny and true.
• Contact Commenters WordPress Plugin – Our friend Ajith has released a new plugin called Contact Commenters. This plugin provides an easy way to email your commenters based on a variety of different criteria such as All Commentors on a Particular Post, All Commentors in last X number of days, etc. I helped Ajith test the plugin and it works great!
• 40 Ways to Deliver Killer Blog Content – Chris Brogan wrote a great list of tips and suggestions for writing better articles for your blog.

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

(Anti) Social-Lists 12/7/08

• 100 WordPress Tutorials from Beginning to Advanced Well, this is just what the title is telling you. If you want to learn more about WordPress, video tutorials have been collected into one central location.
• Typealyzer This is like a personality test for your blog. Put in the URL and get the results back. I got

  ISTP-The Mechanics

  The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

  The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

  I found this link through kuanhoong’s blog.

• 10 Myths of Blog Marketers Debunked The Inquisitr discusses 10 myths about blogging frequently told to us by blog marketers. Beware the snake oil salesman. I’m a little late on this article – it should have been included last week.
• Google Releases Official Search Engine Optimization Guide This is a downloadable Search Engine Optiomization pdf from Google. Too bad I didn’t have this a couple of weeks ago. Let’s see if I can master google’s rules.

• WordPress 2.7 Plugin Compatibility The ever growing list of plugins compatible with WordPress 2.7. Be sure to check this list before you upgrade.

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

(Anti) Social-Lists 11/30/08

]]> http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/anti-social-lists-113008/feed/ 20 http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/google-page-rank-a-sudden-3-point-drop/ http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/google-page-rank-a-sudden-3-point-drop/#comments Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:12:57 +0000 Kim Woodbridge http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/?p=1614 Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Google Page Rank – A Sudden 3 Point Drop!!!
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I’m not that bright

I will be the first to admit that I am ignorant about SEO, backlinks, page rank and all of these important things that assist in getting indexed by google and a good position in search engine results. I didn’t know anything about this sort of thing until September when Ajith wrote, Google Page Rank update – DollarShower.com is PR3 now!, and I discovered that I had a PR3. I then became slightly more interested in the topic and became a regular reader of his site. I also started emailing him questions. I also installed the Firefox add-on Search Status, which tells you the PageRank and Alexa Rank of any site I am visiting.

And much like Twitter, rankings don’t really matter to me. But I liked being a PR3 and was hoping to move up to 4. And PageRank seems to matter from a monetization point of view and I suppose it gives a site credibility.

PR Drop

Last Friday I still had a PR3. Late that night, however, I dropped to PR0. I don’t have paid links or write sponsored reviews. As far as I can tell I haven’t done anything on the google no-no list. I have not been blacklisted, am still indexed by google, and am getting the same amount of traffic from google that I am accustomed to.

Panic!!!

The first thing I did was panic. I even felt sick to my stomach. I emailed Arjith and he took a look and said the only problem he could find is I am not using nofollow and am allowing my rank to leeched out (my words, not his). It never occurred to me that I should use nofollow. I did some research about this and read Matt Cutts on Nofollow, Links-Per-Page and the Value of Directories. Apparently Matt Cutts is the go-to guy for this issue. I wish I knew him. I have started following him on twitter, @mattcutts, but don’t really expect a follow back.

Don’t Panic

I then encountered ProBlogger’s article from two years ago, What should you do if your Google Ranking Falls and you lose all your traffic?, where a similar thing happened to him but in his instance he did lose search engine traffic. His first piece of advice was “Don’t Panic” so that calmed me down some. I read the rest of the article and realized that no one is immune to this happening.

Additionally, a big PageRank drop happened a little over a year ago. Again, ProBlogger was impacted by this and he wrote, ProBlogger – PageRank 4. Could something similar be happening again?

Reconsideration Request?

I am signed up for Google Webmaster Tools and other than the nofollow issue I haven’t found any problems.

What I can’t decide is whether I should submit a Reconsideration Request or not. ProBlogger recommended to sit tight but that is a two year old article. Should I wait a little bit or should I submit it immediately?

As anyone, who isn’t writing paid reviews or buying links, had this happen recently? And does anyone have the ear of Matt Cutts?

photo credit: kevinsteele

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

Google Page Rank – A Sudden 3 Point Drop!!!

]]> http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/google-page-rank-a-sudden-3-point-drop/feed/ 93 http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/anti-social-lists-112308/ http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/anti-social-lists-112308/#comments Sun, 23 Nov 2008 11:24:05 +0000 Kim Woodbridge http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/?p=1413 Post from: (Anti) Social Development

(Anti) Social-Lists 11/23/08
]]> Just 5 links this week but they are all quality ones. I collected more during the week but then pulled some of them. A commenter noticed that I was being especially negative lately and I decided to remove some of the snark. This week I’ve got Gimp tutorials, information about WordPress 2.7, using the WordPress visual text editor, free eBooks, and an article about blogging from Copyblogger.
• 30 Exceptional Gimp Tutorials and Resources – Last week I posted a tutorial for Photoshop and Gimp. Ajith mentioned that he wanted to learn Gimp so I located this list of resources in my bookmarks. If you want to learn all kinds of special effects with this free open source software, this is the place to start.
• 8 Common Sense Tips For Writing Clean WordPress Blog Posts 8 Tips for Using the Visual Text Editor in WordPress. This is an awesome guide and one I know I’m going to refer people to frequently.
• Is Blogging Keeping You Poor – Copyblogger discusses how hard many bloggers work for little reward. Possible solutions are partnerships and delegation.
• 10 Things You Need To Know About WordPress 2.7 Aaron Brazell, from Technosailor, takes a comprehensive look at WordPress 2.7, which is due out at the end of the month. This is the best guide I’ve encountered so far as all of the pertinent information is included in one location.
• 145 MUST READ free business related eBooks A great selection of free ebooks. There is something for everyone here.

Post from: (Anti) Social Development

(Anti) Social-Lists 11/23/08

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