Being Clever on the Internet
Thanks to SERPs (Search Engine Result Page) and Google’s reliance on certain methods of ranking webpages there is often limited value to actually being clever on the Internet, at least in so far as your website design is concerned. Clever multimedia, particularly lowest common denominator oriented videos, of course, is actually valuable thanks to “becoming viral,” or more specifically thanks to people who email, tweet, update status, or otherwise link to funny things. Of course, what is funny to one person is dumb or lame to another person, so it’s really sort of a random thing about what does and [...]
WordPress Theme for Writers
A WordPress theme for writer is one that is plain, black & white, and has no “complex” graphics or SEO features? Do you even know any writers????
Finding the Will to Write When You Just Don’t Wanna
People always ask me what the hardest thing is about being a full-time freelance writer. When they ask, I usually think about it for a second or two and come up with something about keeping yourself on schedule, or finding new clients, or marketing yourself. Sometimes, I might mention that some topics can be pretty dry. But, the truth is that the hardest thing about being a full-time freelance writer is making yourself write when you just don’t really feel like it. Unlike a part-time freelancer, or a non-professional writer, a full-time writer doesn’t really have the ability to "make [...]
If You Build It, You Will Wonder Why They Come
Do you ever wonder about the people who are new to your blog? I can’t help but wonder what it is like to come to Arctic Llama for the first time and read some of the articles. If readers arrive via search engine, then chances are they start by reading a specific post, one that does or does not provide what they need depending upon how will their search results matched what they were looking for. If readers arrive via a link, either one of mine, or someone else’s, then maybe the first thing they see is the landing page. [...]
Freelancing Makes Doing What You Love Easier – Maybe Too Easy
I am a writer. I always have been but I pretended to be some other things along the way like a systems administrator and a financial planner. Somewhere along the line I got it into my head that I had to have a “real” job in addition to being a writer, the way aspiring actors also have to be waiters or something. When events made going into business for myself as a freelance writer too attractive to pass up, I made the leap to full-time freelance writing and have never looked back. Now, I do what I love, even if [...]
Makeuseof.com Great Online Resource and Utility Finder, Terrible Time Management Scourge
I hate Makeuseof.com. I mean really, really, hate it. In an online world where 99% of websites that catalog and review online services are nothing more than thinly veneered shells that simply repost the manufacturer’s description with a two sentence praise or pan (usually praise), Makeuseof is one of those websites that actually takes the time to use and then describe all manner of web-based resources, both good and bad. …most websites simply repost the manufacturer’s description… If you are looking for a free online service or utility that you know exists, that you hope exists, or that you aren’t [...]
Build a Custom WordPress Site Using Free Theme
One of the things that make WordPress the dominant blogging platform on the Internet is that it is free and customizable. It is so customizable that there are thousands of themes available. A theme is a set of files and functions that produce a unique look and design for any WordPress website. There are free themes and “premium” themes and themes that are free to download, but you have to pay for support, and so on. Most of them are not good. It seems that coloring and graphics is what makes a theme “good” to most of the Top Whatever [...]
New Improved Google Search Features Help Writer Research
Just days after I went through the trouble of pointing everyone to d8search as a way to get improved date searching out of Google search results, Google updated the features they offer in their own native search. The homepage of Google search is the same as ever with one minor, and by minor I mean HUGE, difference. Near the upper left corner of the page you will find a harmless looking link that says, “Show Options.” Click it, and you will find two powerful choices for researching articles that you are freelance writing. The first is “Recent results” and the [...]
Building Websites and Blogs to Achieve Total Writing Freedom
This blog, and all of my other “serious” websites, are built on WordPress. I’ve tried Blogger, but just can’t seem to get into it, and frankly, if you are going to build up an empire of websites, the blogging ones should pretty much be built on WordPress or Blogger. As you know, I am a professional writer, not a web designer or webmaster, or whatever people are calling themselves these days. So, why am I building any websites at all, and why am I telling you about it on a freelance writing site? The answer is total freedom and independence. [...]
Groupthink in Search Engine Development Rankings and Results
If this weren’t an online blog that depended in no small measure on the traffic generated by readers looking for information via search engines, that title would have been more catchy, more appealing, and more fun. In other words, more likely to grab the reader’s interest and more likely to be enjoyed by the reader. Something like, “Are Search Engines Putting the Web To Sleep?” or “Could This Title BE Anymore Boring”. But, alas, the world of search engines has become mired in the groupthink caused by Google’s rapid and unprecedented rise to the top of the mature Internet. As [...]