My difficult week had nothing to do with the website(s) except that it kept me away from my computer. Well, partly I was doing my taxes which was difficult but happy because I owe less than I had expected and do have a little spare cash because of that. I think I'll save most of it for a trip next month. :)
Other than adding graphics to many of the pop music pages and starting a new domain (andistars.com) not much has happened. I am testing the andifashion.com domain and it seems to still be in the sandbox (or doldrums) because the one page I moved lost all of its Google traffic, so I won't be moving any others until it recovers.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Saturday, February 18, 2006
New Andi sites.
I purchased the andifashion.com domain last August and began it as a new site when andilinks.com was banned by Google. But the sandbox kicked in and when andilinks.com was reincluded by Google in September I moved all the fashion/apparel pages back to their original URLs and they once again recovered their traffic.
But now it's February and I'm thinking that I may try moving some pages to andifashion.com. I've also purchased a new domain for pop music and it's generic enough that I could expand it to celebrities in general. Mostly these are insurance against andilinks being banned by Google again, I'd be perfectly happy to have everything on one site.
Anyone who's followed my postings at WebmasterWorld, WebProWorld, or Matt Cutt's blog know how strongly I feel about this.
It will be another week before the Pop Music site is live, I'll still keep the current pages where they are and simply post informative articles at the new site until the sandbox period has passed. The apparel pages are doing so well with Google I'm afraid to move them all at once.
But now it's February and I'm thinking that I may try moving some pages to andifashion.com. I've also purchased a new domain for pop music and it's generic enough that I could expand it to celebrities in general. Mostly these are insurance against andilinks being banned by Google again, I'd be perfectly happy to have everything on one site.
Anyone who's followed my postings at WebmasterWorld, WebProWorld, or Matt Cutt's blog know how strongly I feel about this.
It will be another week before the Pop Music site is live, I'll still keep the current pages where they are and simply post informative articles at the new site until the sandbox period has passed. The apparel pages are doing so well with Google I'm afraid to move them all at once.
Saturday, February 11, 2006
Trimming the fat
After running the MyBlogLog software for 45 days I have compiled a list of the 35 most popular links on the home page and I will begin re ordering the categories and links based on this list:
1 Drudge Report
2 Slashdot
3 Red Ferret
4 Google Search
5 digg
6 del.icio.us
7 TV Listings (excite)
8 Google Video of the Day
9 the ONION
10 180 degree News
11 Daypop
12 AlwaysOn
13 Bandwidth Meter
14 techdirt
15 SciTechDaily
16 Back in Pajamas
17 BetaNews
18 Wired
19 Progress report, this blog
20 O'Reilly Radar
21 CNN
22 Blog Networks
23 FOX
24 GoogleNews
25 GGuide Cheat Sheet
26 Newsbrew
27 Google Blogoscoped
28 Mondo Times
29 Topix.net
30 traceroute
31 Flickr
32 details (link checking)
33 Disposable Email Addys
34 MySpace
35 FeedMeLinks
These are not the ONLY links I will retain but this list will guide me in my choices. There will be more apparel and pop music links replacing the deleted items. I'd like to keep the file size down to about 40KB, it is currently pushing 46KB.
1 Drudge Report
2 Slashdot
3 Red Ferret
4 Google Search
5 digg
6 del.icio.us
7 TV Listings (excite)
8 Google Video of the Day
9 the ONION
10 180 degree News
11 Daypop
12 AlwaysOn
13 Bandwidth Meter
14 techdirt
15 SciTechDaily
16 Back in Pajamas
17 BetaNews
18 Wired
19 Progress report, this blog
20 O'Reilly Radar
21 CNN
22 Blog Networks
23 FOX
24 GoogleNews
25 GGuide Cheat Sheet
26 Newsbrew
27 Google Blogoscoped
28 Mondo Times
29 Topix.net
30 traceroute
31 Flickr
32 details (link checking)
33 Disposable Email Addys
34 MySpace
35 FeedMeLinks
These are not the ONLY links I will retain but this list will guide me in my choices. There will be more apparel and pop music links replacing the deleted items. I'd like to keep the file size down to about 40KB, it is currently pushing 46KB.
Friday, February 03, 2006
Slow but sure progress...
I've been going over the stats from MyBlogLog for the past 36 days and I can see that the home page is going to lose many links because they were clicked just a few times or not at all. I may keep a small number that were not clicked simply because I like them or because they anchor a category, but mostly this will be a "people's choice" winnowing... After these changes are made I will add the MyBlogLog stats to some other pages...
I am also redesigning the apparel database and there will be more clothing links on the home page. I'm not sure how long this will take or when the changes will be reflected on the site, but there is definite progress behind the scenes. The apparel section will be getting a LOT bigger and better.
Andilinks will become a directory mostly for people who wear and buy clothing, though I will also expand the pop music section somewhat as well. My point here is that apparel industry people may visit and use the site from time to time for their own purposes but this will not become another Apparel Search site.
I am also redesigning the apparel database and there will be more clothing links on the home page. I'm not sure how long this will take or when the changes will be reflected on the site, but there is definite progress behind the scenes. The apparel section will be getting a LOT bigger and better.
Andilinks will become a directory mostly for people who wear and buy clothing, though I will also expand the pop music section somewhat as well. My point here is that apparel industry people may visit and use the site from time to time for their own purposes but this will not become another Apparel Search site.
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
New Home Page
As much fun as I've had compiling the current home page I'm afraid that it is not going to survive in its current form. It simply is not pulling its weight as compared to the rest of the site, especially considering that it competes for the position of most trafficked page.
Many have said it is ugly and many are frightened or put off by the clutter. But I find it very useful and well organized and many others do as well, so I will probably continue it at another URL, but it can no longer remain the default page.
I have made a lot of progress--though it's probably not immediately visible--with women's wear and pop music. That will continue to be the direction that Andilinks takes...
I may begin a fine art site, but it will be entirely separate from Andilinks.
Many have said it is ugly and many are frightened or put off by the clutter. But I find it very useful and well organized and many others do as well, so I will probably continue it at another URL, but it can no longer remain the default page.
I have made a lot of progress--though it's probably not immediately visible--with women's wear and pop music. That will continue to be the direction that Andilinks takes...
I may begin a fine art site, but it will be entirely separate from Andilinks.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Redesigning Andilinks
So it's time to do an overhaul, not just a facelift. I'd really like to add some snazzy new technology but just redoing the appearance is my main goal at the moment.
I will be converting the layout from tables to css and that will be taking some time since I plan to continue updating the site and adding new pages while doing the redesign. Though the "look" of the site should remain uniform I cannot change everything at once, I've got to consider how Google reacts to the new design. I have heard about and experienced problems with the indexing just because of design changes. So I'll begin with just one or two pages and see how that goes. I have always begun new designs on the home page and I'll continue that practice.
I'll probably try some experiments there but nothing so jarring that you won't recognize the place.
I would really like suggestions but I don't expect much, I seldom get comments of any kind from people who don't want a link or have something to sell. I do get a lot of traffic though, I must be doing something right.
I will be converting the layout from tables to css and that will be taking some time since I plan to continue updating the site and adding new pages while doing the redesign. Though the "look" of the site should remain uniform I cannot change everything at once, I've got to consider how Google reacts to the new design. I have heard about and experienced problems with the indexing just because of design changes. So I'll begin with just one or two pages and see how that goes. I have always begun new designs on the home page and I'll continue that practice.
I'll probably try some experiments there but nothing so jarring that you won't recognize the place.
I would really like suggestions but I don't expect much, I seldom get comments of any kind from people who don't want a link or have something to sell. I do get a lot of traffic though, I must be doing something right.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Regrouping (if one person can regroup)
I have yet to fully recover from the 54 day ban from Google (7/28 - 9/22) even though I have made some significant improvements to the site. Prior to the ban I was filled with enthusiasm about an almost unbroken three-year run of escalating traffic and income. During the ban, and even now to some extent I am disheartened. I am not now as despairing now as I had been during the ban but I have come realize that while Google may not be evil at its core, it is not very good either.
This is a post about my progress since the ban, but I do want to take one swipe at G. When there is a consistency over a period of years, and it is known, or should be known, that people are depending upon this consistency, there is a responsibility to at least acknowledge an act that can potentially destroy lives. I find Google in this regard to be reckless, heartless and irresponsible. I still don't know why my site was banned, I don't know why it was unbanned, I don't know whether the changes I made during the ban helped or hurt.
I have now completed my first purge of dead links from the big link table since July, and during this coming week will be updating the pages on the site that are fed by this table. This is a good time to think about a dynamic database which automatically updates the site. I'm not ready for that yet and am thinking that it may be better to shrink the site than to take that next step. But since the old pages still produce income I won't remove them. I will simply post a notice on them that they are not being updated as often as the Fashion directory...
There is still a lot that remains to be done, I think I have the spirit remaining to do it.
This is a post about my progress since the ban, but I do want to take one swipe at G. When there is a consistency over a period of years, and it is known, or should be known, that people are depending upon this consistency, there is a responsibility to at least acknowledge an act that can potentially destroy lives. I find Google in this regard to be reckless, heartless and irresponsible. I still don't know why my site was banned, I don't know why it was unbanned, I don't know whether the changes I made during the ban helped or hurt.
I have now completed my first purge of dead links from the big link table since July, and during this coming week will be updating the pages on the site that are fed by this table. This is a good time to think about a dynamic database which automatically updates the site. I'm not ready for that yet and am thinking that it may be better to shrink the site than to take that next step. But since the old pages still produce income I won't remove them. I will simply post a notice on them that they are not being updated as often as the Fashion directory...
There is still a lot that remains to be done, I think I have the spirit remaining to do it.
Friday, September 30, 2005
Maybe this blogging thing will catch on.
What’s up with Bloglines? Russell Beattie
I've been wondering this myself, I'm glad Russell has done some work on it...
Consumer Spending, Personal Income Gloom from Barry Ritholtz, The Big Picture.
Not a good picture if you've been hoping for more expansion, but as Jim Cramer says, "there's always a bull market somewhere."
I plan to check out Debra Messing's Style Shops in the example of
ROLLYO, a personal search with a social aspect.
I've been wondering this myself, I'm glad Russell has done some work on it...
Consumer Spending, Personal Income Gloom from Barry Ritholtz, The Big Picture.
Not a good picture if you've been hoping for more expansion, but as Jim Cramer says, "there's always a bull market somewhere."
I plan to check out Debra Messing's Style Shops in the example of
ROLLYO, a personal search with a social aspect.
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Should I go back to posting New Items here?
The main site is finally back in the Google index but is still suffering from some kind of penalty which has led me to this: maybe I should blog. This occurred to me as I began adding "New Items" and realized that I wanted to add blog-like commentary.
While figuring out how to get my Google traffic back I may as well try my hand at blogging, though I've tried before with some limited success.
PC vs. Mac: Why I might Switch Back... Russell Beattie
Russell is very smart but we disagree a lot. Once he banned my IP from his blog and I haven't left many comments since even though I left that IP behind long ago.
Notes and Comment on the Launch of TimesSelect PressThink
Goodbye NYT
More TiVo treachery and betrayal boing boing
Goodbye TiVo, again.
FireANT Not TV
I haven't downloaded this but it looks intriguing and is gaining popularity.
While figuring out how to get my Google traffic back I may as well try my hand at blogging, though I've tried before with some limited success.
PC vs. Mac: Why I might Switch Back... Russell Beattie
Russell is very smart but we disagree a lot. Once he banned my IP from his blog and I haven't left many comments since even though I left that IP behind long ago.
Notes and Comment on the Launch of TimesSelect PressThink
Goodbye NYT
More TiVo treachery and betrayal boing boing
Goodbye TiVo, again.
FireANT Not TV
I haven't downloaded this but it looks intriguing and is gaining popularity.
Friday, August 19, 2005
Google scraper ban
I posted something similar to this on the WMW forum and then decided it belogs here on my blog. This was a thread about collateral damage from the 7-29 Google scraper ban.
Andilinks has a lot of original content, both on pages full of text written entirely by me and as commentary about various listed links. I was however also using exerpts and meta descriptions from the linked sites to describe them and must have passed some threshold for that. I was seeding with these descriptions and re-editing later. I certainly will admit that the AdSense revenue was very good and that did provide an incentive to produce more pages, especially high-traffic pages.
There are far too many pages on my site like this for me to change them legitimately in a timely fashion and using text-scrambling software would degrade the descriptions and make my site more like the scrapers themselves. But I may write a script to swap out certain synonyms wholesale.
I am disallowing googlebot from those pages for now (they still do well with Y and M but I fear these may have their own scraper crack-down soon as well). I am keeping my fingers crossed.
In this recent recovery process I accidentally used too many 301 redirects for the server load and probably confused slurp and msnbot too...
But I have almost four years work invested in the database and am working day and night to recover this. If you stop hearing from me you'll know I 'died trying.'
Andilinks has a lot of original content, both on pages full of text written entirely by me and as commentary about various listed links. I was however also using exerpts and meta descriptions from the linked sites to describe them and must have passed some threshold for that. I was seeding with these descriptions and re-editing later. I certainly will admit that the AdSense revenue was very good and that did provide an incentive to produce more pages, especially high-traffic pages.
There are far too many pages on my site like this for me to change them legitimately in a timely fashion and using text-scrambling software would degrade the descriptions and make my site more like the scrapers themselves. But I may write a script to swap out certain synonyms wholesale.
I am disallowing googlebot from those pages for now (they still do well with Y and M but I fear these may have their own scraper crack-down soon as well). I am keeping my fingers crossed.
In this recent recovery process I accidentally used too many 301 redirects for the server load and probably confused slurp and msnbot too...
But I have almost four years work invested in the database and am working day and night to recover this. If you stop hearing from me you'll know I 'died trying.'
Thursday, August 18, 2005
andiFASHION
I am just heartbroken that Google dropped Andilinks from its index on July 28. I am finally recovering but I doubt I'll ever get back to where I was with it...
I have started a new site with just the Women's Wear pages. I have gotten two pages into Google but I'm blocking the googlebot from the directory until I figure out why Andilinks was banned.
I was probably swept up in the scraper spam ban, but I don't know how to keet the robot from mistaking me for a scraper. Well, I'll have more to say on this later. I'm finally getting my spirits back with having a new website.
I have started a new site with just the Women's Wear pages. I have gotten two pages into Google but I'm blocking the googlebot from the directory until I figure out why Andilinks was banned.
I was probably swept up in the scraper spam ban, but I don't know how to keet the robot from mistaking me for a scraper. Well, I'll have more to say on this later. I'm finally getting my spirits back with having a new website.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
New Items, Thursday
Victor Davis Hanson Interview Chrenkoff
wists yet another social bookmark tagger
Peeking Into Google internetnews.com
wists yet another social bookmark tagger
Peeking Into Google internetnews.com
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
New Items, Wednesday
Lawrence Lessig Interview, P2P O'Reilly Network
Long Tail Chris Anderson's blog
Yahoo Netrospective
Kitchen & Housewares new Andilinks page
Long Tail Chris Anderson's blog
Yahoo Netrospective
Kitchen & Housewares new Andilinks page
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
New Items, Tuesday
Bubble Redux?. CBS via techdirt
Banned Cartoon Russell Beattie
Artists Break With Industry on File Sharing via Techdirt
Banned Cartoon Russell Beattie
Artists Break With Industry on File Sharing via Techdirt
Monday, February 28, 2005
New Items, Monday
The FUD based Encyclopedia pro Wikipedia article
PVRblog Tivo etc.
hack a day
Free Tech Support.org
ComputerGeek tips & gadgets
JimsTips.com
Gmail Tips
PVRblog Tivo etc.
hack a day
Free Tech Support.org
ComputerGeek tips & gadgets
JimsTips.com
Gmail Tips
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Saturday, February 26, 2005
New Items, Saturday
cnet top 100
Odeo Blog
NegativWorldWideWebland
Postmodern War City Journal
Jessica Simpson new Andilinks page
Cold War approach to beating radical Islamists usnews.com
Odeo Blog
NegativWorldWideWebland
Postmodern War City Journal
Jessica Simpson new Andilinks page
Cold War approach to beating radical Islamists usnews.com
Friday, February 25, 2005
New Items, Friday
Science of Matter, Space and Time Fermilab
Evan Williams' Podcasting Venture NYT reg req
iRiver iPod alternative
MovieLens via RedFerret
Trust Project about web based social networks
Evan Williams' Podcasting Venture NYT reg req
iRiver iPod alternative
MovieLens via RedFerret
Trust Project about web based social networks
Thursday, February 24, 2005
New Items, Thursday
Norah Jones new Andilinks page
Sunglasses new Andilinks page
InfoVisual Visual dictionary
VoIP Now weblog/news
AutoLink Disabler Jscript for webmasters
Though if G truly has passed over to the "evil" side they simply could penalize SERPS for running this script. So, "Do no evil" = "Trust me."
SendtoFTP right click FTP utility
blogads about blogs
FilmTrust via RedFerret
Maybe a YASN that doesn't scale well, but worth keeping an eye on.
The Overstretch Myth Foreign Affairs via A&LDaily
An excellent analysis, but a difficult subject for many.
Sunglasses new Andilinks page
InfoVisual Visual dictionary
VoIP Now weblog/news
AutoLink Disabler Jscript for webmasters
Though if G truly has passed over to the "evil" side they simply could penalize SERPS for running this script. So, "Do no evil" = "Trust me."
SendtoFTP right click FTP utility
blogads about blogs
FilmTrust via RedFerret
Maybe a YASN that doesn't scale well, but worth keeping an eye on.
The Overstretch Myth Foreign Affairs via A&LDaily
An excellent analysis, but a difficult subject for many.
Summary: The United States' current account deficit and foreign debt are not dire threats to its global position, as would-be Cassandras warn. U.S. power is firmly grounded on economic superiority and financial stability that will not end soon.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
New Items, Wednesday
Lots of video links today. This routine is going to work well, today I have written a macro to change the HTML from the other format to this one in a single click, so I'll have more time for comments in the future. Today was a very busy day, errands, shopping etc.
TVexe.com broadband TV
Dell's 42" Plasma HDTV
Vimeo like flickr for video
10 Minute RSS Primer threadwatch
TVexe.com broadband TV
Dell's 42" Plasma HDTV
Vimeo like flickr for video
10 Minute RSS Primer threadwatch
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)