hummingcrow: one squall voice » BlogHer07 http://www.hummingcrow.com cheryl colan's mixed media podcast - vlogging and sharing audio for fun and non-profit. Sat, 04 Sep 2010 22:18:31 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 2006-2009 cheryl.colan@gmail.com (hummingcrow: one squall voice) cheryl.colan@gmail.com (hummingcrow: one squall voice) posts 1440 http://www.hummingcrow.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/hummingcrow_img-sm.jpg hummingcrow: one squall voice » BlogHer07 http://www.hummingcrow.com 144 144 cheryl colan's mixed media podcast - vlogging and sharing audio for fun and non-profit. hummingcrow: one squall voice hummingcrow: one squall voice cheryl.colan@gmail.com no no Pilgrimage to Pekin House http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/11/22/pilgrimage-to-pekin-house/ http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/11/22/pilgrimage-to-pekin-house/#comments Thu, 22 Nov 2007 07:17:05 +0000 Cheryl Colan http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/11/22/pilgrimage-to-pekin-house/ I lived in Chicago in my early 20s. My roommate used to order take-out from Pekin House, and eventually I got in on it. I cannot describe how good these egg rolls are. They must be wrapped in heaven and fried in peanut oil. We ended up ordering from this place once a week, and we’d get enough food for an extra meal or two. We tried almost everything on the menu, but always, always ordered the egg rolls.

The funny thing is, I never had any idea where the place was. The phone number was on the fridge. The menu was in a drawer. They showed up at the door. With great food. This is something I never questioned, never thought about. It just was, and boy, was it good.

When I moved back to Phoenix, I missed this food so much I could barely believe it. After fifteen years, I still dream about those egg rolls. I could remember exactly how they tasted. The only other foods I dream about, with the exception of a certain Mexican food restaurant here in Phoenix, are foods my mom, dad, or grandma made when I was a kid. So it’s a big deal that I dream of Pekin House egg rolls.

So when I went to Chicago for BlogHer this past summer, I had to see if I could find the place. I found an address on the web, and figured out how to get there. It would be a 45 minute journey by El-train and bus from my hotel room. I talked up these egg rolls all day long to everyone I met, but at the end of the day, nobody wanted to be adventurous and go with me.

There was no way I was going to give up on these egg rolls, so I went all by myself, even though my very favorite thing is sharing good food with friends.

So I brought you with me. It was better with you there. We had an adventure together on the streets of Chicago. I’m sorry I forgot to tell you that you came with me for this long. Thanks so much for coming along with me. It really meant a lot for me to share this with you.

I got truly crappy audio in the restaurant, because I was a little embarrassed sitting there telling my camera about dinner, so I did it quietly. I got even worse audio on the El, because it’s just so loud. So I subtitled myself. If you have trouble reading the wee little version, consider downloading the mid-size.

]]> http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/11/22/pilgrimage-to-pekin-house/feed/ 7 3:30 I lived in Chicago in my early 20s. My roommate used to order take-out from Pekin House, and eventually I got in on it. ... I lived in Chicago in my early 20s. My roommate used to order take-out from Pekin House, and eventually I got in on it. I cannot describe how good these egg rolls are. They must be wrapped in heaven and fried in peanut oil. We ended up ordering from this place once a week, and we'd get enough food for an extra meal or two. We tried almost everything on the menu, but always, always ordered the egg rolls. The funny thing is, I never had any idea where the place was. The phone number was on the fridge. The menu was in a drawer. They showed up at the door. With great food. This is something I never questioned, never thought about. It just was, and boy, was it good. When I moved back to Phoenix, I missed this food so much I could barely believe it. After fifteen years, I still dream about those egg rolls. I could remember exactly how they tasted. The only other foods I dream about, with the exception of a certain Mexican food restaurant here in Phoenix, are foods my mom, dad, or grandma made when I was a kid. So it's a big deal that I dream of Pekin House egg rolls. So when I went to Chicago for BlogHer this past summer, I had to see if I could find the place. I found an address on the web, and figured out how to get there. It would be a 45 minute journey by El-train and bus from my hotel room. I talked up these egg rolls all day long to everyone I met, but at the end of the day, nobody wanted to be adventurous and go with me. There was no way I was going to give up on these egg rolls, so I went all by myself, even though my very favorite thing is sharing good food with friends. So I brought you with me. It was better with you there. We had an adventure together on the streets of Chicago. I'm sorry I forgot to tell you that you came with me for this long. Thanks so much for coming along with me. It really meant a lot for me to share this with you. I got truly crappy audio in the restaurant, because I was a little embarrassed sitting there telling my camera about dinner, so I did it quietly. I got even worse audio on the El, because it's just so loud. So I subtitled myself. If you have trouble reading the wee little version, consider downloading the mid-size. BlogHer07, Chicago, NaVloPoMo07, Thanksgiving, food, life, travel, vlog cheryl.colan@gmail.com no no Gena on BBQ http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/11/21/gena-on-bbq/ http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/11/21/gena-on-bbq/#comments Thu, 22 Nov 2007 00:12:31 +0000 Cheryl Colan http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/11/21/gena-on-bbq/ I met up with Gena Haskett for breakfast and exploring when we were both in Chicago for BlogHer 2007. We had a fun day, and she ended up telling me all about barbecue, which is serious business, people, believe me. I love Gena’s vlog, Out on the Stoop, so it was a pleasure to talk to her in person. She is thoughtful and delightful no matter what the topic of conversation. I know you’ll forgive my crappy camera work and the odd glitches introduced by iMovie to share my delight in Gena’s company. I only wish David Meade could have joined us.

]]> http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/11/21/gena-on-bbq/feed/ 2 1:50 I met up with Gena Haskett for breakfast and exploring when we were both in Chicago for BlogHer 2007. We had a fun day, and ... I met up with Gena Haskett for breakfast and exploring when we were both in Chicago for BlogHer 2007. We had a fun day, and she ended up telling me all about barbecue, which is serious business, people, believe me. I love Gena's vlog, Out on the Stoop, so it was a pleasure to talk to her in person. She is thoughtful and delightful no matter what the topic of conversation. I know you'll forgive my crappy camera work and the odd glitches introduced by iMovie to share my delight in Gena's company. I only wish David Meade could have joined us. BlogHer07, NaVloPoMo07, food, travel, vlog cheryl.colan@gmail.com no no Search Engine Optimization Tips from BlogHer07 http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/09/05/search-engine-optimization-tips-from-blogher07/ http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/09/05/search-engine-optimization-tips-from-blogher07/#comments Wed, 05 Sep 2007 18:05:50 +0000 Cheryl Colan http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/09/05/search-engine-optimization-tips-from-blogher07/ On July 29 I attended an hour-long UnConference session on Search Engine Optimization at BlogHer07. Unfortunately I walked into the session a wee bit after it started and I did not hear the presenter introduce herself, nor was I able to get her business card, so I can’t give a proper attribution. If anyone who reads this can, please do so in the comments and I will update this post. I did hear that she gleaned these tips over time by trial and error, and they’re what she could truly say had worked well for her in increasing her site traffic and search engine placement.

Please note! This site is not a great example. I don’t do all the things on this list. I do set these many of these items up for clients, but my personal site is in major need of an overhaul.

On with the SEO Tips:

mantra: Get links to your site from wherever you can!

Within the <head> tag of your home page

  • Your <title> should be descriptive and contain words indicating what your site is about. It’s used on every search engine, so use words you would expect people to type in as search terms.
  • Use <meta> tags for description and keywords. Examples:

    <meta name="description" content="Travelogue. hummingcrow.net presents Dreaming Down Under: A mother/daughter exploration of indigenous culture in Australia and New Zealand." />

    <meta name="keywords" content="travelogue, culture, exchange, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Aboriginies, Maori, indigenous, travel, photos, digital, storytelling, mother, daughter, journey, dream" />

Your Permalinks should match your post titles

  • Good example: http://www.hummingcrow.com/search-engine-optimization-tips-blogher07
  • Bad example: http://www.hummingcrow.com/?p=126

Submit your site to free search engines and directories

  • Do not pay anyone to submit it for you. You know your own content best and will do the best job.
  • Search “free directory submission” and start adding.
  • With Yahoo!, you have to drill down into a category that fits your content and “suggest site” to submit.
  • Use StumbleUpon. Submit your: site, posts and categories.

Look at what search terms lead visitors to your site

You’re being shown that there is a demand for that information. If appropriate, play it up. Write about it even more. If you haven’t already written about it, consider it!

“Get links from everywhere” includes yourself

Create internal links to your older posts whenever appropriate. (Attention videobloggers using WordPress: the VideoPress Related Videos plugin will help you do this with style!) When creating internal links, consider tweaking older entries to make them better. You want them to be representative of great site content. Keep it natural though. You don’t want to suddenly change the character of your site.

Customize your archive templates

Instead of just having them say “archive of [some category],” make sure they explain what your site is about. Also, make sure they offer information about how to get around your site. Consider adding a “Recent Posts” plugin to lead people to newer pages. Make sure there are links back to your home page, search, and featured items.

Use “Content Discovery” or “Social Media Ranking” sites

Handle images properly

  • Because they show up in searches, too, make image file names short but descriptive: “cookies.jpg,” not “picture.jpg” or “food.jpg.”
  • Do not put content-related text in an image, particularly your site’s header image. If you do, make sure the information is duplicated in your HTML. Search engines cannot read text when it’s part of the image.

Build strategic relationships with other bloggers

  • Pick two or three blogs you really like and comment regularly, providing insightful contributions. (Don’t write “me too” or “first!”)
  • After you’ve built some rapport, you can email them about a really good post you’ve written that you think they’ll like.
  • Keep this type of correspondence genuine and it will encourage others to link to you. Done in a solicitous or demanding manner, it will be a disaster.

Use Categories and Tags

Not all blogging platforms have both Categories and Tags, but use both if you can. Categories should be broad; tags should be specific. Example: Category = Birds, Tags = Burrowing Owl, Sonoran Desert. Tag names should not duplicate category names to avoid confusing users. Display your broad Categories in your sidebar to help users navigate by topic.

WordPress hint: Many WordPress sites employ the Ultimate Tag Warrior plugin to make the most of categories and tags. You can use it, too. But you should know that WordPress 2.3, slated to be released later this month, includes a significant restructuring of the way categories and tags work, incorporating a lot of the UTW features. If you’ve waited this long to focus on tagging, my advice is to wait a little longer and upgrade your WordPress installation to 2.3 once it’s available and the bugs are squashed.

Try Themed Features

If you write about one topic repeatedly, or produce a series, consider featuring all of the themed posts on a static page so there will be permanent access to all the related pieces.

Avoid Duplicate Content

There are people out there who will grab your RSS feed and republish all your content on another site, surrounded by ads. This creates duplicate content, and it really hurts your search engine ranking. Google encourages you to report these content hijackers to AdSense Abuse (if they are using AdSense). You can also check whether they are violating their Internet Service Provider’s Terms of Use and report them if they are. And remember, you hold the copyright to your content. Another blogger at the session said she had very good results sending DMCA Take-Down notices to ISPs whenever she encountered a copyright violation.

Summary

SEO is not a one-time, set it up and forget it thing. You need to live it and breathe it every day.

]]> http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/09/05/search-engine-optimization-tips-from-blogher07/feed/ 1 Video Compression Take-Home Info http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/07/28/video-compression-take-home-info/ http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/07/28/video-compression-take-home-info/#comments Sat, 28 Jul 2007 22:45:03 +0000 Cheryl Colan http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/07/28/video-compression-take-home-info/ blogher07-video-lab-compres.jpg

Gena Haskett, Robyn Tippins and I presented an Advanced Video Lab at BlogHer today. We touched pretty briefly on video compression before splitting into small workgroups covering storyboarding, lighting on the cheap, and editing tips to help the BlogHers kick ass at videoblogging.

I promised the attendees a handout covering basic video compression settings and a brief review of three software applications that convert video from one format to another. Here it is:

I have to apologize for not adding hyperlinks to the PDF file. I thought it was more important to get the document up quickly than to bell-n-whistle it up. When I get home I will do that, and replace the PDF file – at which point this paragraph will be displayed crossed out (strikethrough).

Coming ASAP, I’ll put up some video of my cheap lighting tricks.

]]> http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/07/28/video-compression-take-home-info/feed/ 6 00:01:01 Gena Haskett, Robyn Tippins and I presented an Advanced Video Lab at BlogHer today. We touched pretty briefly on video compression before splitting into small ... Gena Haskett, Robyn Tippins and I presented an Advanced Video Lab at BlogHer today. We touched pretty briefly on video compression before splitting into small workgroups covering storyboarding, lighting on the cheap, and editing tips to help the BlogHers kick ass at videoblogging. I promised the attendees a handout covering basic video compression settings and a brief review of three software applications that convert video from one format to another. Here it is: I have to apologize for not adding hyperlinks to the PDF file. I thought it was more important to get the document up quickly than to bell-n-whistle it up. When I get home I will do that, and replace the PDF file - at which point this paragraph will be displayed crossed out (strikethrough). Coming ASAP, I'll put up some video of my cheap lighting tricks. BlogHer07, blog, compression, video, vlogging, web cheryl.colan@gmail.com no no All Aboard the Southwest Chief http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/07/25/all-aboard-the-southwest-chief/ http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/07/25/all-aboard-the-southwest-chief/#comments Thu, 26 Jul 2007 01:46:03 +0000 Cheryl Colan http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/07/25/all-aboard-the-southwest-chief/ Well, I made it to Chicago for BlogHer. I decided to experiment with slow traveling and journey by train rather than airplane. So far, I think it’s great if you have the time. Although I had a splitting headache when I left the train, I think that’s mostly my fault. I did not bring enough water for a 34-36 hour ride and was pretty dehydrated for the last part of the trip.

The Amtrak route I took to get to Chicago is called the Southwest Chief. I got on in Flagstaff, AZ and got off in Chicago, IL. This video shows what that was like, in snippets. Overall, it was a really pleasant experience. Relaxing, plenty of friendly people to talk to when I wanted, and the HP7 tome to read when I didn’t want to talk. And a lot of beautiful landscape. And I got to reduce the environmental impact of my trip somewhat. I feel like that’s a pretty good trade for my time, at least right now, when I have the time to spend the extra time on travel (3 days round trip by train instead of 8 hours round trip by plane).

]]> http://www.hummingcrow.com/2007/07/25/all-aboard-the-southwest-chief/feed/ 9 4:22 Well, I made it to Chicago for BlogHer. I decided to experiment with slow traveling and journey by train rather than airplane. So far, I ... Well, I made it to Chicago for BlogHer. I decided to experiment with slow traveling and journey by train rather than airplane. So far, I think it's great if you have the time. Although I had a splitting headache when I left the train, I think that's mostly my fault. I did not bring enough water for a 34-36 hour ride and was pretty dehydrated for the last part of the trip. The Amtrak route I took to get to Chicago is called the Southwest Chief. I got on in Flagstaff, AZ and got off in Chicago, IL. This video shows what that was like, in snippets. Overall, it was a really pleasant experience. Relaxing, plenty of friendly people to talk to when I wanted, and the HP7 tome to read when I didn't want to talk. And a lot of beautiful landscape. And I got to reduce the environmental impact of my trip somewhat. I feel like that's a pretty good trade for my time, at least right now, when I have the time to spend the extra time on travel (3 days round trip by train instead of 8 hours round trip by plane). Arizona, BlogHer07, travel cheryl.colan@gmail.com no no