Now thats the way to do it!

Following on from my previous post (rant) I tried out an new place the other day; Squidoo.

Not quite sure what the name is meant to say but the interface for folks like me wanting to publish content on the net was so much friendlier and straightforward compared to the awful Hub pages from the other day. In fact the whole feel of the site was far more my style (Be afraid, be very afraid!)

That said writing a new piece took me an inordinate amount of time as their layout was so different despite also being a web 2.0 framework site as well. Most annoying was that the interface seemed to dump any text I had input if I changed the layout at all. That may have been me not understanding their rules I guess, but even so...

Anyway I think that's decided. I'll certainly use Squidoo more often than Hub for future releases of whatever gems of wisdom I have go written down. Go check it out here, and as I said previously, if you have the time please leave me some feedback on the work. At least I recognise there is a great difference to being happy with what you have written and the work being actually Good! Only honest criticism will tell you that!

Two steps forward One back

So I had some advice to set up a couple of other types of site and have them link to my web site at www.backupcamerasystems.net and vice versa. Apparently that increases the traffic to them all so like a good chap I wrote up a couple of articles and set them up on first Scribd then on Hub pages. With a link or two in each to the main site.

So far so good you might think. I'm said to be a fair writer when I put my mind to it and I did my best to make the articles actually have real informational value rather than just be blatant traffic movers. But evidently Hub pages at least didn't agree.

From what I can tell my article there was so good it shot up the rankings very quickly. They score it from 1-100 with a score of 70+ being very good. Mine went in at 68.... This got some stuffed shirt to review it and slap a temporary ban on it as (Get this!) I had one too many link in it to my site where I can (as it is MINE) list products actual cost. That's something I can't really do on a third party site for legal reasons.

The article in question is over 1500 words long. MUCH longer than the average first submission, and i put in one link per 500 word section with pictures or their REQUIRED ad modules splitting it into three bite sized chunks. I thought one per average article was reasonable, guess I was wrong.

What burns me is that I can think of at least three or four Hubs my wife looked at the previous day that were blaten near word perfect rip offs of a fith one. And the crack editorial crew at Hubpages hasn't flagged them at all!

Sheesh I think I'll post something there so off the previous topic as to REALLY confuse the so called editors there. The must think they've pidgeonholed me and are patting themselves on the back for being so eagle eyed... Gah!

Go judge for yourselves. My Hub is here and the scribd post here. Then leave me a comment ad tell me honestly if you think I was not trying real hard to give good value in my posting...

Its all about Communication

I get so frustrated sometimes that folks who are supposedly "Teachers" seem to leave out critical points in the lesson in an attempt to make their presentations and Videos as "Slick" as possible.

I was watching one today and the lass doing it was virtually whispering all the way through forcing me to crank the volume up to the max on the speakers (Mistake #1) I am sure the training vid could have been re-edited with more gain on it before taking it to the masses eh!

Next she shot through her bullet points as if they were real bullets spitting the info out almost faster than I could follow it, never a good move when your trying to communicate.

But the peice de resistance had to be when she demo'd setting up something on a web site (which was the purpose of the Vid). She took me through the log on OK then got to the point where we were to paste in our pre prepared text and...
..at that late stage mentioned the site really wanted us to add in some Pictures to illustrate our subject matter, and she had a really great site where they could be found!

Well point one if we were supposed to add pics to our original document , why for gods sake not mention it when we were asked to prepare the text in the first place! But the crowning glory of this textbook example of what NOT to do was the "Free Photo" site which rather than being free allowed you to accumulate your pics then ask you to "register" to down load them Read, get spam for ever on that email addy you use! Well I have "disposable" emails for just that purpose but after filling out the tedious little form I found it had dumped all my selections that I had made in accordance with the "Training" ...... (Steams quietly in the corner)

When I started this post I was fresh from the battle and was going to wax eloquent on all the other shortcomings of the Video lesson, but happily real life intervened and I had to get away from the PC. Suffice to say I shall learn the lesson of today's exercise.

Communicate the whole task clearly and in order first, without skipping stages just because there second nature to you!

As I have started a couple of web projects (with another two in formation stage) this is actually quite a good thing to learn. Hopefully I can do better in communicating on my current subject to my readers/audience as |I review car accessories - specifically Backing up camera systems for the site I started work on a few days ago.

Power of a Brand Name

It occurred to me today as I looked out of my office window that the UPS delivery truck pulling up outside was the exact image of the ones I was used to in the UK.

How did they do that? And perhaps more importantly -WHY? I mean why go to the expense of shipping or having made up the same vehicle on either side of the pond? The only explanation I could see was company Branding.

I remember when old Bernie turned up in his crumpled brown uniform (and occasionally crumpled brown van!) To collect our odd couriered packages when I was at Wilkinsons Tea & Coffee merchants. Sorry Bernie but it amused me that UPS had gone to all that effort to keep its image intact here and in the UK and then obviously couldn't spend the cash keeping the vans pristine over there....

No this is not gonna be another plug for my current crusade on Parking Sensors. This Blog is personal and eclectic! (Go look that up if ya need to!) Still you have to see the irony. Same vehicles - same dents!

Crap on a cracker

My new born fansite www.backupcamerasystem.net is already on the first page of google (no 8) for its three constituent keywords IF

(ah say! IF!!)

they are searched in that order...

While this is exciting and all, its not the point of this post. No I was wondering if this is HOW those spam emails we all seem to get work. You know the ones proclaiming to get you on the first page of google or you money back etc etc.

I have never fallen prey to those emails myself (though I can think of one or two that have) But I can see now with a bit of luck and effort some shyster could get your name on a contract and get you to agree to pay them provided your site ranked on google#1 even briefly.

Now I hope that www.backupcamerasystem.net becomes in time a serious internet resource for those that have a need for its topic. I have a long way to go but for now I must say I am feeling quite "chuffed" as we say in england!

Oh well gloat breaks over BACK to work Gillie!

Ok lets put the serious stuff someplace!

So in addition to this more light hearted (& general purpose!) Blog I got asked a few questions, and given a few more suggestions how to set up a better page for my current interest in motoring accessories and in specific. Parking sensors & stuff.

Interestingly it brings me back to a place I thought I was gonna avoid. Word press.

You may recall I had a pretty bad experiance (as did mu wife) with Wordpress DIRECT (Note the slight difference) and had vowed to avoid them like the plague hereafter. So in a delicious irony of the internet a friend pointed out that Wordpress and WPdirect were Not the same thing. WPD apparently is a spin off group that takes all the geekyness out of setting up the FREE wordpress blogging template in return for you shooting them a few bucks.

A quick trip to Wordpress.ORG and I was happily reassured and downloading the current version of their set up file. And while I can't agree with their claim of a "Five minute install" I can happily report it didn't take me any more than 15 minutes - most of that being getting my web host to activate a feature I had not yet enabled.

So I have set up a new site for reviews of stuff at www.backupcamerasytem.net which I invite any passerby to take a look at. There I'll be freer to add my own code and stuff that Blogger here is not so good at.

Finally I can get on with my interests!

Now my web site can at least be edited (see previous post) I can go on and take a look at whats available here in the US for the hard working "White Van man" Do they even use that term here?

I dunno but some of you will recognize it I know!

Gonna head over to google reader now and see what the latest news feed are. When I have something and can check it out I'll let Y'all know (did I say that right?)

Gotta LOVE the internet help desk worker

So after four hours of being bounced from constitutionally incompetent help desk operative to another I finally found Somebody that had a brain AND

(This is the important bit!)

Was allowed to use it!

Why cannot companies that run a help desk realize that their staff Ought to be allowed to use their own brain rather than being forced to go through a script of standard responses that may or may not be at all relavent to the question being posed!

I had five of them before I got a guy allowed to use his brain and answer me.

Really AT&T ought to be ashamed that they neuter their operators like that. Three minutes properly Explaining my question allowed my man to give me novel and obviously well considered advise. Pity it took me being very firm and insisting on a high supervisor to get there.

Disturbingly this means that all you ought to do when put through to a help desk is ask for a supervisor. Surely that will mean those guys will soon be swamped! Please for the love of god you big companies if you want to retain customers allow you people at least the option of thinking instead of tying their hands!


update shortly after:-
No coincidence surely! Not ten minutes after I Blogged the original post here the "fault" magically went away......

.....I mean what are the odds of that, right after bending the ear of somebody competant, who as a good company employee assured me that they couldn't be at fault, but allowed that somebody "Might have been a bit zealos..." The problem clears up after being broke for nearly a day.

I think the man deserves a medal. He covered his boss's ass AND fixed the customers complaint. Trouble was, because he had to employ "stealth mode" to do it nobody in his company needs to give him credit!

Now you know WHY help desk workers won't think most times. Their companies will take all the credit for it and give them nothing.

Last leg of the paperwork.. probably!

At last! Setting off to send the last dollop of paperwork to the US security folks. Now I can find some free time to expand on this blog (Like I said before Wordpress was a bust - never again!)

Can't get over how in this land of motor vehicle worshipers a few features I was used to seeing as standard in the UK are comparatively rare. I wonder if thats just where I am or if its a country wide thing. We shall see!

Who'd have thought it?

Sheesh! Whoever thought getting a blog up was easy! No I don't mean its easy to get a basic blog (like this one) set up I mean keeping it there!

Take my fiancee; She has been laboring to set up a nice romantic valentines day Blog and wow is she good! over a 1000 hits in three days!

Promptly causing the site to shut her down as it was too popular.....

Is it just me or is that kinda dumb. I mean she actually Pays for that blog with a company which I shall not name here for leagle reasons But for crying out loud frustration or what!

I'm gonna see if we can migrate her Blog to our web site (www.romanceonthenet.com) but that'll take a bit of work I guess still better that than being cut off in her prime as it were after all that hard work and reseach!

Oh, before I forget if your a romantic fool (like me!! Yaay!) She has a mailing list that you can take a peek at as well here:-