JeBas's blog

Search Engine Optimization for Visual Artists - Use Text

JeBas — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:00:00 +0000

When I started working on my gluten free website, I had very little problem getting it listed in the first couple pages of a search engine result, but my art site is completely different. It rarely appears before page 10. So I have been doing some research on how a visual artist should approach Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The first thing that I learned was to use text.

This may sound obvious to several of you reading this, but I am surprised at how many artists have beautiful websites consisting of flash animations and glorious paintings, but does not use one word of text. If you go to these sites, and select View Page Source, you might see some copyright information and the script that calls the animation. These sites are not listed well in Google.

The problem that all search engines have is they are all built on computer, and computers are very poor at pattern recognition. A four-year-old child can be taught what the letter 'E' looks like, and that child will have little problem recognizing the letter 'E' in a different font. The computer however will just recognize the one letter 'E' that it was originally taught. If a different font is used, there is a good chance the computer will not recognize the new letter 'E'.

Though computers are poor at pattern recognition, they are excellent at calculations and statistics. They can quickly count the number of times a word and its synonyms appear in a page and come up with a number. That number can then be used to rank that page with other pages using the same words and synonyms. This result is then indexed into a server that waits for someone to do a search for those words.

This means that any artist that wants to be listed in a search engine, needs to add some words to the pages with his pictures. He should also add alternate text to each picture because it gives the search engine more words to use. But what words should be used? That will be covered in the next section entitled “Key Words.”

Building a Home Data Center for Fun and Profit.

JeBas — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 10:00:00 +0000

A while back, the gentoo-wiki and gentoo-portage websites got yanked off of the net because the ISP got into a dispute with its landlord. This got me wondering if it was possible for a small business owner or hobbyist to build their own data center. So I am starting a project to do just that.

The first step for me is to move my existing servers off of the physical hardware and onto virtual servers. Virtual servers can easily be moved from one physical system to another. As a bonus it is possible to clone a virtual machine to test upgrades before they go into production. Also, none of my present servers use enough I/O, CPU, or RAM to require an independent box.

After a little research, I chose my virtualization software based on my requirements.

I eliminated OpenVZ fairly early. Though most of my servers are Linux based, I occasionally need access to a Windows machine. OpenVZ uses one main kernel to run all of the separate environments, and will not run Windows.

I also eliminated Virtual Box and QEMU. These system seemed to be designed to run on desktops environments. Both have heavy emphasis on the user interface. Neither of them seem to be interested in server cloning or clusters.

KVM was eliminated because of my hardware. KVM requires the Intel VT or AMD-V, and some of my machines don't have it. Since I don't have the money to replace these machines, I can't use KVM.

VMWare was eliminated for the same reason that KVM was. Though VMWare will run on machines without Intel VT or AMD-V, it will not run a 64 bit OS. VMWare is limited to using 32 bit OSes if it does not have the hardware support.

This left me with Xen. It will run 64 bit OS as long as that OS is built for paravirtualization. It will limit which machines will run Windows, but I don't see that as a problem. It supports server cloning, and allows servers to be moved to different physical machines.

So my first step is to move JeBas.us off of its present server, and onto a Xen virtual machine.

Why I chose Drupal over Joomla.

JeBas — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:00:00 +0000

When I originally started using this domain, I was using Joomla. I wanted the experience of running a website, but I also knew that I wanted to do a few things more than were available in WordPress at the time. So I loaded Joomla onto my Apache server, and started my stories blog.

As I got use to putting up posts, I quickly realized that there were other subjects that I wanted to write about. Some of these subjects required more than a simple content management system. I had wanted to have recipes on my GlutenFree site and galleries on my art site. I also wanted to link all of my sites so that there was a common login for everyone. That's when I realized that Joomla was not going to work for me.
The first problem that I ran into was how modules were distributed in Joomla. Most of the modules that I was interested in were proprietary, and shipped without the source code. I didn't have a problem with paying someone for providing the module, but a lot of what I was interested in doing required changes to the modules. This made modifying the site more difficult.

The second problem was running multiple sites off of the same code. Joomla, at the time, was designed to run one site at a time. My goal at the time was to have multiple sub-domains sites running off a common login database. There was a module I could added that was highly unstable and extremely difficult to install. It would give me multiple site access, but it would have made software upgrades difficult. I was forced to return to my original research, and choose some new software.
When I had done my original research, I was deciding between Drupal, Joomla, and Plone. I had given up on Plone because I could never get it to run at a reasonable speed, so I looked at Drupal again.

I immediately noticed that Drupal placed its modules into an open source format. If something didn't quite meet my needs, I would have access to the code to make changes. Secondly, the system was initially designed to run multiple sites off the same code and database. There was even a common sign on module that gave me the ability to have a single login for all of the sites.

After a little time for debate, I finally decided that it was worth scrapping Joomla, and rebuilding the site with Drupal. It was a bit of a pain, but Drupal has proven that it was worth the effort.

Part of Branding is Figuring Out What Does Not Belong

JeBas — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:00:00 +0000

A common topic on ProBlogger is branding. There is constant talk about determining what your brand is, how do you present it, and most importantly, keeping it consistent. Because of these discussions, I am dropping one of my blogs.

My Stories blog was the fist one I ever created. I made it so I could learn about running a website, and the actual blogging process. It has been extremely useful and fun, but now it is inconsistent with the rest of the websites that I have created.

All of my other websites are instructional and serve a purpose. On this website, there is a discussion on how to run this website and the lessons learned. Gluten Free discuses feeding a family gluten free meals. Art not only shows my latest artwork, but will also discuss marketing the artwork on the Internet. groupGTD is an open source time and project management software.

Unfortunately stories is just a group of entertaining stories. It does not belong with the rest of the websites that I have created. It does not fit the brand that I am trying to create for JeBas.US, so it is being removed.

Branding is not only about choosing what to show, but choosing what not to show.

For those of you that still want to follow my personal exploits, I have a LiveJournal Page that you can follow. There you are expected to put up personal stories and opinions, and that works with their branding.

New Plan for www.JeBas.US

JeBas — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:00:00 +0000

In the past year, I have learned a lot developing JeBas.US. Some of the lessons were technical, some were spiritual, and some were just plan weird. However the most important lesson that I've learned is that you need to contribute as much if not more than you receive. Because of that, I am now changing the www.JeBas.US website.

All of these various lessons that learned are now in little notes all over my office. Most of them could be useful to other people if I were to post them somewhere. This includes experimentation with virtual machines, comparisons of Drupal and Joomla, and what makes a working website. It's a lot of information that I am now going to share.

I'm going to be discussing the various aspects of running this website. That means the topics may be a little broad, but they will have a narrow focus. It will cover what I have done, some of the mistakes that I've made, and some of my successes. It will also cover sections as I learn a new skill for this on going project.

I am hoping that the information that I am providing will be as useful to someone else as I have found it.