When conducting a site audit, the low-hanging fruit for most good SEO folks is identifying duplicate content issues. On-page factors and link popularity can almost always use some improvement, but they're not usually the kinds of things that actually do harm to your search engine rankings. Duplicate content, on the other hand, can actually hurt a web page that might otherwise have a good chance at a high ranking. read more »

Search Engine Optimization is dead. Search engine rankings no longer matter. I see a lot of link bait to that effect floating around these days. So what's the deal? Is SEO still relevant in 2009?

Yes. More than ever.

If interest in a subject is an indicator of relevance, then SEO is clearly still alive and kicking. This graph, taken from Google Insights for Search, shows searches for "seo" at an all-time high.

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In my recent post about getting WhirledView back on track, I address the fact that the toils of everyday living have often put this blog and some of my other projects on the back burner. To be honest though, everyday life isn't always what's kept me from blogging.

Usually the problem is me. The things that keep me from being a prolific (or even somewhat regular) blogger are really just self-imposed limits. Excuses. The good news is, identifying and taking responsibility for those excuses is half the battle. Here's my take on 5 lame excuses that keep us from blogging regularly: read more »

In the midst of today's inaugural events, I couldn't help but reflect on the campaign @Obama ran that got him in the White House. Detractors seem annoyed by the energy and enthusiasm generated by the Obama campaign, sarcastically referring to him as the "Messiah." As an Obama supporter I'm more inspired than annoyed by this enthusiasm. read more »

And I'm back...

I've written quite few posts that basically apologize for lengthy absences and give assurances of new beginnings here on whirledview.com, but despite my great ambitions, this blog has repeatedly turned into a series of short updates about my personal life, followed by long periods of nothing. Real work, relationships, and the ups and downs of life have pulled me away from this and other projects I've started in the past couple years. I'm glad to have kept the blog alive though, and I suppose I'm now beginning another one of those bursts of blog postings to update my small network of friends, family, and collegues on my ever evolving whirledview. read more »

As a big fan of Radiohead I would go to a lot of trouble to see them live, but I'm not sure if I'd ever repeat the events of last night if I had it to do over again.  The show was at Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Virginia, which has a bad reputation for being a traffic nightmare even when the weather is perfect.  But last night the weather was far from perfect.  It was an absolute deluge and with temperatures in the 40s, the conditions were downright miserable.   read more »

This is a bit delayed because I've been basking in some happy times and staying busy at work, but for those who don't already know, I asked the love of my life to marry me and she said yes! We've already started talking about plans and setting a date, so I'll be sharing that soon.

Back in January of this year I did a small post about our New Year's Eve party and expressed my disappointment at the fact that I didn't take enough photos.  Thanks to Todd & Jenniffer, and via Lana & Brian, I eventually got a hold of some more and burned them onto a CD, which I then left in my pocket for the past six months or so.  Now that it's getting cold again, I pulled out that old jacket with the CD in the pocket and "walla," I now have more New Year's Eve photos to share.  I don't think I need to go into any additional detail to describe that night, but let's just say I was hung over until February.  

Needed to post something new to put recent events to rest.  Lia and I are going to see Band of Horses tonight at the 930 Club with Ryan, my fellow music aficionado (the one who scored the great tickets to see Wilco ), which I'm really looking forward to.  They're one of the most exciting new bands I've gotten into in a couple of years and I've been totally addicted to them.  Only thing is, the show doesn't start until 11:30.  Good thing I napped.