Justa Rollin’ Right Along
Just in case anyone hasn’t noticed, eBay found itself a new homepage. I am not sure when this happened, but it did.
Here is something about the eBay.co.ik site and here is something from Mike Osborn with eBay’s Marketing team.
Do you remember what eBay looked “way back” in the day? If not, just click that link.
Hey, if I owned eBay, do you think I would be rich?
Sometimes people name things and think they are very very cool for doing so. People hear these cool new names and start using them in everyday conversation. I bet you know what I am talking about.
Let’s say…”24/7” for example. I for one, think this is a very stupid little saying, but it seems as though just about everyone has jumped on this bandwagon. At this point, there probably is no stopping it. Once the Pope says it, it’s over.
Lately, I have been hearing little things here and there about “Web 2.0.” I read “Revenue Today” magazine. There are articles with hints of the “Web 2.0″ phrase. I kind of roll my eyes each time I come across it because it seems like people are trying too hard to grab hold of something. This is what got me going.
Have you ever seen any shows on HGTV? Well, if not, let me explain. HGTV is a channel devoted to home improvement. I watch it because I like to see the gardening stuff. Sometimes I have to grin and bear it through the DIY shows. When you were a kid, what did you call the box in your house that you had all of your stuff and your bed in? Your “room,” right? Yes, your room. Not anymore. Now they call it your “space.” Since when did we call everything a space? “Yeeeeeezzzzz, well, hhmmmm, mumzy, pleeeease move the Range Rover into the space.” “You mean the garage?” “Yeeeezzzz, the garage space.” Do you get what I am saying? If not, here it is. I am saying that calling a kitchen a kitchen is good. Calling a room a room is good. Only those people call things “spaces.” Unfortunately, even the homeowners (those whose homes are being worked on by HGTV) are now made to call things spaces. “Yes, we sure would love a teensy weensy little bit larger coffee table in our space.” That just sounds dumb. It almost feels like there is some huge effort in Hollywood to change what we call a room. Can you imagine getting wicked pissed at your kid and yelling, “You little $%#^%, go to your space!!! No dinner for you!!!”
Anyway, sometimes it seems like this is what is happening on the web. Kind of like in the corporate world. If you have ever worked in that world, I am sure you are well aware of the idiotic things people make up names for. Someone has got to stop them.
So, without further ado, let’s get to looking at Wikipedia’s definition of Web 2.0.
The phrase Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second-generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites, wikis and folksonomies — which aim to facilitate collaboration and sharing between users. It became popular following the first O’Reilly Media Web 2.0 conference in 2004, and has since become widely adopted.
Although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to Web technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the web as a platform. According to Tim O’Reilly, “Web 2.0 is the business revolution in the computer industry caused by the move to the internet as platform, and an attempt to understand the rules for success on that new platform.”
Some technology experts, notably Tim Berners-Lee, have questioned whether one can use the term in a meaningful way, since many of the technology components of “Web 2.0″ have existed since the early days of the Web.
Let’s look at the first sentence. “The phrase Web 2.0 refers to a perceived…” Ok, let’s stop right there. This is exactly what I am talking about. A perceived…this means that someone made this up and it is being pushed on the rest of the world. I gather that because this phrase has become so popular.
Let’s look at the first sentence in the second paragraph. “Although the term suggests…” Let’s stop again. The word “suggests” to me, means that I can not use this phrase with any seriousness in the least. I like actual meanings of things.
Let’s look at the third paragraph as a whole. I agree with Tim Berners-Lee. We are floating on the same brain wave if you are catching my drift. Why in the world would anyone try to give the simple and natural evolution of something a name like Web 2.0? Oooohhh, yeah, version two baby.
I remember back a few years ago, a local radio station tried the whole 2.0 thing. This is when the web was just getting all heated up. They were so proud of themselves. The announcer would say something like, “Yeah, the best music of the 40s, 50, 60s, 70, 80s, 90s and today!!! J98.6FM — version 2.0.” That didn’t last long. I think once someone in management realized that no one on the planet had any idea what they were talking about, they put a stop to it.
I was down at the hardware store this morning and the paint guy asked what I was up to. I told him that I was going to head home to really dive in to the intricacies of Web 2.0. I told him that I was going to envelope myself in what I would seriously consider the lightening fast and exponential explosion of how “Web 2.0″ has defined what we call the web. Ok, that didn’t happen, but I am sure it would’ve if I had gone to the hardware store.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I have truly noticed a shift in what has happened on the web. I am just not sure it should be called the second version. As a semi-ex website designer, I have noticed a squeeze in my profession. People still come up to me and ask if I can design websites for them. I am a little puzzled at why they are asking. I tell them to just set up a blog. They look at me all confused and then I remember that these people only spend a fraction of the time I do on the web. I mean, c’mon, just set up a site file, a folder structure, buy a domain name, set up a hosting account, download the latest version of Wordpress, set up a database and go to the install URL. Hit go, and if you want to get fancy, download a nice theme.
Is that too much to ask? Sorry, did I answer the question?
I’ll tell you. What’s good is when someone commits a whole blog to it.
You know I like olive oil because I have written about it in the past. There are tons of health benefits of olive oil and it just tastes good. Every time I use it, I feel like I am using something that not too many other people use. Yes, even I like to feel special.
When my buddy, Bob, told me that he is helping out with a blog devoted to the topic, I was pretty excited. You gotta see this thing. It’s called, “Olive Oil Passion” and has lots of good stuff for the olive oil lover out there.
Hey Bob…good luck with it!!!
Since I am on the topic of getting cyclical traffic to your website, I thought I would share a great blog post I came across on the web today. It’
s called, “Seasonal Traffic and How to Capture It for Your Blog.”
Sure, the title says that this is for a blog, but I am sure the principles can be applied to just about any website. Give it a shot.
What a fun thing I found today.
Have you ever wondered what people were searching for online? You would probably guess that they were searching for things similar to what you search for. Hmmm…no, not really.
I usually search for things that have nothing to do with TV, or any entertainment for that matter. Well, that’s not true for the rest of America.
Check out Google Hot Trends to see if your searches are remotely close to what other people are looking for online.
If you own and run a website or websites, like I do, you are probably pretty concerned with what’s around the corner.
Back in business school, we learned about something call a “SWOT analysis.” I remember, during the time I was copying homework assignments straight from the textbook, I thought to myself that this was total garbage and I would never, ever use something like this. Well, as it turns out, this stuff has been pretty useful. Like anything else you learn in life, these things have ways of creeping and staying in your head. You would be surprised at how much I think of various business strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
One thing I constantly ponder over is what is to come. I try to prepare and educate myself on what’s going to happen one month, three months, five years down the road. Like any other website out there, my websites have cyclical, or seasonal traffic flow. Motorcycle searches and sales occur much more during the months of April, May and June. People are searching for and visiting pet related websites in the summer and around Christmas. I would be neglecting my business if I didn’t know this and prepare for it. Of course, the way to prepare is to schedule certain things, have enough manpower for certain other things and have plenty of resources for even more things.
When I think of website (or internet as a whole) traffic, I often think of stocks. When I look at past performance and highs and lows of certain keywords, I can generally predict what is going to happen in the coming year. I think I have done a good job of this type of thing, considering I have shuffled websites and servers around four times in the past two years. I don’t want to over do it on the resource side, because that would be wasting money. I want just enough to grow for the coming year, without hindering performance.
Here is a little hint - when trying to compensate for cycles in any business, the trick is to diversify. If you are selling snow cones in the summer, it might also be wise to sell moon boots in the winter. That way, you can have a steady income. That is probably why motorcycle dealers sell dirtbikes, street motorcycles and snowmobiles at different times of the year. That’s just my two cents.
Ok, so what’s the point? Go over and take a visit to Rankmon.com and type in your website’s URL. Then, hop over to Google Trends and type in your website’s most popular keywords from Rankmon. You will see the cycle of your website, or what you can expect anyway. If the wave is way up and down, you may want to set up another website that has opposite traffic of your current one. Or, you can just go out and ride your bike or something.
I was just telling someone at work here a very funny story from my long torrid past. This is a good, but short, one.
Back in sixth grade in Brewster, I had this girlfriend named Janet. I am not sure why I had a girlfriend at such an early time in my life…she may have seduced me. My story included how Janet and I had a massive note exchanging operation. It seemed like every time we saw each other, we passed notes to one another. I was also saying how I really never had anything to write because she was a grade above me and I really didn’t have anything in common with her. Why were we going out? I am not sure. Even though, receiving the notes was pretty fun because you just never know what you are going to get. Sadly, there wasn’t all that much good content.
I used to like to go to flea markets. The Stormville Flea Market was the best in the area. One time, when I went there (I think) with my good friend Rob (who never calls me anymore), I picked up an Iron Maiden t-shirt. I wasn’t really a metal band fan, but perhaps one day I could be. The real reason I bought one of these t-shirts was because they had the coolest graphics on them…I mean cool. The one I bought had those cool blue 3/4 sleeves with black material for the inside with a skull and chain graphic. This thing was badass.
One day, while wearing my new t-shirt and exchanging notes with Janet in middle school, I was approached by a dirtbag. You know who they are…the ones you stay away from. This dude comes up to me and fist grabs my t-shirt and pushes me against the wall. He said in a really tough voice, “Tell me one song that Iron Maiden plays.” I just stood there up against the wall looking around. How the hell would I know what Iron Maiden played? I was just wearing the damn shirt. I told him I had no idea and he said, “If I ever see you in this shirt again, I am going to kick your ass.” I thanked him for explaining the importance of knowing a little something about the band on the t-shirt you are wearing. Then, I grabbed his wrist, pulled it off my shirt and shoved him back a few feet. I stepped forward and karate kicked him in the chest. He fell on the floor and started to get up when I bent down and grabbed his hair. I gave his face two swift punches to break his nose and knock out two front teeth.
Ok, the last part didn’t happen. He let go and I walked away in shame. Janet still was my girlfriend, but we did break up a short time later. I am not sure if it had anything to do with this incident. I think we all know the lesson we should learn from this story. I’ll leave it there…
In the neverending quest for beauty and serenity, Laura and I decided to visit Saratoga Springs, NY and Lake George, NY yesterday.
I wanted to visit Saratoga Springs because a few years ago, we went to a concert at SPAC (Saratoga Performing Arts Center). After the concert, we decided to head downtown. At the time (in the dark) we just thought it was the cat’s meow. That brought us back for another look in the daylight.
We entered town from the South and stopped for lunch before we hit downtown. It was a little weird because we were on the outskirts. I wasn’t too impressed with what we saw. The daylight shed some light on a few things. After lunch, we headed downtown for a drive through. This was much better, with even a little cosmo feel. They do a great job at keeping the area up. There was quite a bit of traffic though, due to the tourists (like us).
I thought the town was really nice, but not quite for us to spend any amount of time in. We started heading out and Laura suggested we visit Lake George, since we were almost there. I agreed.
We headed up to Lake George and thought it would be fun to re-visit a campground called, “Adirondack Camping Village.” This is a great looking campground with some nice, private camp sites. We stayed at this campground a few years back for a night. That is a story in itself that we have laughed about. Let’s just day, prepare before you camp.
Ok, we headed towards Lake George Village for some nice photos and ice cream.
Lake George is a pretty fun place. We didn’t spend all that much time there because we had a long ride home. I was actually getting a little sick of driving, but we did what we had to do.
Overall, it was a good day because it got some things out of my system, which needed to be done.
I was just sitting here waiting for Laura to get out of the shower and decided to read some of my blog posts. I was browsing through them and thought to myself, “Boy, these crafty writings are quite entertaining.” Right after I thought that thought, I thought of how lucky you guys are to be exposed to something so terrific.
Well, off to the races today…not really, but we will be near races. Of course, I will tell you all about it later.
Love, peace and hair grease.
Here is a picture that has nothing to do with anything, but I know people like pictures.
PS - My nephew, Storm, started posting to his new blog. After he gets a few more posts up, we will hook the boy up with a nice Wordpress Theme. Go get ‘em kid.
Now, I am not one to say that the English language makes sense and I really don’t want to come off like the Queen of England. I am not even saying that I am any good at what I say. All I am saying is that I hear a whole bunch of words being mispronounced from time to time. You may have even witnessed spelling mistakes in this blog. I do try to check over my spelling as much as I can, but sometimes I just don’t care. I mean really, who cares? Sometimes I feel like just throwing my hands up in the air and joining those who say, “Oh, you know what I meant.”
A big one is “often.” I always thought that the “t” is silent. Maybe I am wrong, or maybe the English say it differently, but even my ninth grade English teach said it incorrectly.
I found a great website that lays out the most mispronounced words. Here is what they say about “often” or what should really read, “offen…”
We have mastered the spelling of this word so well, its spelling influences the pronunciation. In fact, T drops out between F and N regularly in English (compare soften).
More times than not, I hear people say, “Oh, that happens often.” They say it with the “t” in often. Who can really blame them? I mean, if people want to hear that word with a silent “t” then why not take the damn “t” out of the word? Would that really be too much trouble? Hey, that’s a novel idea…say it like it’s spelled. I have another idea…why not just say the “t” with often? What harm would that be?
I think this English language needs a bit of cleaning up. What do you think?
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