Website is Down!

For those of you who's ever had to be the administrator of anything technical, you will surely enjoy this. If you've ever been given trouble for something breaking, when clearly it wasn't your fault, you will defintely relate.

It's a 10-minute short and is from www.thewebsiteisdown.com.

SEO, it's where the money's at!

Nowadays, you can find anyone to build you a website. Working in the .COM business, I've had clients hire top marketing and web design firms thousands of dollars to young high school/college students in exchange for internship hours (I use to be one of them!).

In the early 2000's/late 90's, web designers could get away charging thousands of dollars per website. Unfortunately, web designers are as abundant as the number of houses for sale on the market (in this current economy). Secondly, flash intensive sites are now overshadowed by search engine ranking requirements. When it comes down to it, how much value is an extravagant (and expensive) flash site worth, if it' can't be found in search engines?

According to Google® or Yahoo® search engines, it isn't worth much - ranking wise. Nowadays, it's all about relevant content on the websites and interlinking with relevant content related websites. Google® has a certain formula (or what we nerds call algorithm) that determines how a website is ranked in searches. These are based on many factors that are listed on your website. Unfortunately, Google® changes these factors (reportedly) once a month. Therefore, someone ranked #1 this month may not be possibly be that ranking the next month.

Theoretically, it encourages webmasters to frequently update their website with current information. Secondly, it discourages website spammers from saturating the Internet with... well, crap.

Recently, I've been thinking about furthering my education in Web Design. Realistically, it is still necessary to have those fundamental skills to develop websites. I've even thought about getting a second undergraduate degree at the Art Institute of Phoenix, just so I can claim master to that specific trade. Not to say I'm not fairly expert and educated already (I've graduated the University of Arizona with a BA in Political Science (minors in Media Arts and Business) back in 2004).

However, I'm worried with the trend of web design being readily available to anyone by anyone. In this industry, if you can master the art and dynamic of web design, uniqueness and talent will play a part whether you can get a job or not. So I've decided I'll focus on the next opportunity out there: search engine optimization (SEO for short, is the act of optimizing a website on search engines).

In my research, SEO firms charge a tremendous amount to customers. It's a tedious task to be ranked appropriately. With Google® updating their algorithms often, it takes a lot of time, effort and adjustment for a website to be ranked appropriately.

As for me, I'm getting certified on WebCEO's SEO training program via online. (See the link below.) While I'm doing so, I will further my education and training on web design and development, whether it's self-teaching or getting that second undergraduate degree.

Until then, I want be where the demand (and money) is at: Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Misty May and Other Top Olympians

Apparently there is a blog about Misty May's bum ( http://mistymaysass.blogspot.com ). Here's my two cents about the recent Olympics. Oh and Michael Phelps is also a stud.

W. Trailer

I respect George W. Bush and his administration for taking on his presidency the way he did. Any other president would be under even more scrutiny. Maybe thanks to Oliver Stone, maybe George W. Bush will be a little more respected for who he is. The trailer looks good, hopefully Hollywood liberalism won't overdramatize him to be a bastard.  

Looks like a pretty all-star cast though, as you will see. 

President Bush vs Women's Volleyball Team

Valarous attempt by W.

Chipotle Grand Opening

It was a glorious day when a Chipotle opened in my neighborhood (South Mountain/Phoenix area). I'll have to admit, I've already visited there twice once for breakfast and lunch on the grand opening day.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Restaurants are actually ranked as one of the top most healthiest fast food chains. It's with good reason. If you choose wisely, you can get a Burrito Bol for less than 400-600 calories. (The actual tortilla holds the most carbs and calories.)

I even contemplated on going on a Chipotle diet, in hopes nobody has done that before. Unfortunately, I go to register "ChipotleDiet.com" and find it's already registered to some guy who claims he lost 90lbs. Apparently, he visited Chipotle twice a day eating only Burrito Bol's but loading it up with all the good stuff (including the Guacamole, Cheese and Sour Cream). Ultimately incorporating exercise, he was able to drop the weight. So much for being original. I was going to blog about it too.

Since it is within walking distance, I figure if I am going to have that tasty meal several times a week, I'll have to work for it by running or walking to it. Sounds like a good compromise.