SEO, UX, FX, Art, Interviews, Complaining
When your website is down you miss out on sales and make a poor first impression. Oh, and it's bad for SEO. Never fear--it's easy to get notifications when your site is down. And if your webhost sucks, you can switch to a better host. (See previous post re: the best managed WordPress hosts. Spoiler … Continue reading Are Website Uptime Monitoring Services Reliable?
Updated for 2020: A good host and webmaster grease the SEO wheels. One of my clients is with ProntoMarketing. They're awful. I loathe working with them. (Pronto, not the client.) I more or less told the client, "It's them or me." Rather than leave a great client in the lurch like the prima donna I … Continue reading WordPress Managed Hosting Comparison
Google is like Pinocchio; they both want to seem more human. Write well. That's what Google wants you to do. Because that's what your human audience wants too. Become an expert on something and share well-written content about that something. Know your keywords, and how to use them. A good SEO writer avoids excessively ham-fisting … Continue reading SEO Writing 101
Is it too much of a pain in the ass/expense to keep adding timely content to your website or blog? Or do you already do that and you're looking for a way to up your SEO game without trying too much? I know it was just half a year ago, while showing you how to … Continue reading Google Business Profile Posts – What are they? How to? Why? Etc.
Updated for 2024: Astute searchers have increasingly noted Google SERPs adding images next to regular organic listings, especially in mobile search. Here are two examples: You should get an image next to your mobile Google results, too! Business image thumbnails like these are one example of what Google calls SERP enhancements. It’s important to remember … Continue reading Answered: How do I get an image next to my site’s Google SERP listing?
"American Sound reproduces the sound of a Fender 57 Deluxe amp, which performs great from clean, driven, and everywhere in between." So says Joyo. I can’t argue with that. Here's my review. It's a good amp emulator/cab simulator. Up until a few days ago I had three reasons for my American Sound love affair: I … Continue reading I’m a fan of the Joyo American Sound effect pedal. (JF-14)
Great new JHS shoegaze guitar effects pedal. Dial it in using five different controls over the Kill Gaze. Ah… Just kidding. Though JHS did sell a Shoegazer mod, they didn’t actually make the JHS Kill Gaze pedal. It's pure parody. I'll clarify early on that I'm not insinuating JHS wants to kill gays. Nor does … Continue reading New Pedal – JHS Kill Gaze!
Updated for 2025. When this UX snob of a pedal junkie caught the tremolo bug, he started referring to himself in the third person and made a spreadsheet comparing 30+ different tap tremolo pedals. ...Then he blogged about it. If you're lazy or impatient, use these links to skip to a juicier section of the … Continue reading Tap Tremolo Pedal Comparison/Guide
This is Google's default "Google My Business Post" image. Will they make me take it down? We'll see. (This post is more than half a decade old. I'm guessing some of it is outdated by now.) I won't write much about Google Business Profile posts and how they're potentially great for your business, your business's … Continue reading Automated Scheduling Google My Business Posts
"When you embed text in an image, Google can not read it. That's the old saying, at least. Technically, 'Google' can read and parse the text in almost any image. There's plenty of evidence supporting Google's OCR capability; I won't refute it. But you should still shun putting text in images, usually. ...Says the guy who … Continue reading SEO: Text-in-Images – Misinformation & Best Practices
Dan Dreifort 