I’ve been working on yesanotherblog (YAB) and 53 Fragments over the last weeks. The work has been about setting up the blog ‘YAB’ (yesanotherblog) – working out how I want it to look and feel, and then implementing this design and intention. It has been a personal CTA (call to action).
In this process, I’ve been reading and coming across topics like SEOs, image optimization, Google analytics, CSS – CTA (call-to-action) and pop-ups. It’s a veritable forest, jungle and flood of expressions, tips & pointers, of how to be more effective in the online boogie-woogie (OBW).
It starts with the title we use for our post. It runs from the first letter we type to the final full-stop (if we use punctuation).
Disruption is the order of the day; on a scale that’s pulling everyone into its impact zone. I think of terms like chaos theory and it reminds me to revisit that one. These are vitally stimulating times and not without their challenges – individually, socially, economically and emotionally. Perhaps the last challenge is of the most under-estimated significance. We do grow quickly used to new situations, even whilst resisting the changes that bring them about. COVID-19 has created the most far-reaching sweep of changes since the WW2. This is now beyond dispute. There are no neutral countries in this one. There are no businesses unaffected – and no group of people either. This is an absolute ‘we are all in this together’ narrative.
The disruption to a typical working week (even if one is unemployed / searching for work) covers every detail of what defines a day. The toilet paper and pasta fiasco was absurd yet highlighted this transformation: what do we need? How do we get it? These have become heightened aspects of most people’s lives, as a direct result of the virus. The ‘taking things for granted’ (including the IOTs / internet of things) syndrome has changed. The very act of simply leaving home is no longer a thing to be taken for granted. Mobility, digitalization, working from home, going out for a meal (or ordering a take-away), shaking hands, the kiss on the cheek, the countless distractions that pepper each day (and hour) have also changed. There is a stripping-away process in play. We are confronted increasingly by the intricate details of what make our day a day. Or what used to make a day a day. The need and desire for structure remains yet now different approaches are being called for. There has probably never been a greater need both for an individualized structure married to a need for flexibility. Many routines are not possible or not in the same way(s). We are being asked to (re)invent, (re)think and reflect on things from A to Z.
We are not on holiday, and if we are – It’s been imposed on us. All the plans we made for Easter, Whitsun, school holidays, anniversaries, medical treatment, career changes, surprise proposals, (and the list is endless – the devil dances in the details) – all this mosaic of life planning and living has been disrupted. For everyone and everywhere. COVID-19 has unleashed change in ways eclipsing climate change stats of concern, eclipsing terrorist atrocities, mass shootings. This year millions of people have spent more time together and apart than the last years. The great unknown has descended and we look at it and wonder.
I’m trying to understand the mechanics of SEOs for my website / blog. I’d like to influence how visible yesanotherblog (YAB) is – when people do the search thing online. I’d like to optimize things so my site pops up more effectively and optimize the speed my site loads, so there’s no frustration for the visitor. There are structures and tools available to achieve improvements. Plugins that work straight out of the proverbial box, code to tweak and patch and calibrate, ‘how to’ sites to answer every question we have, to make our online experience even better than it already is.
My favourite SEO is a smile. It’s a kind word a warm contact with another person. That’s the algorithm that does it for me. It worked today when I went shopping. It works every time with my wife and kids. Sometimes it’s easier said than done. But when it’s done it’s the nirvana of SEO and every other kind of optimization. A smile, tolerance, listening attentively, openness and being interested – even being excited, like a child ho cannot wait to get into that sand-pit and onto that swing.
I will keep trying to improve yesanotherblog (YAB) and my other efforts online but they are all only as good as the smile I can feel, the extended, open hand I can stretch out to another.
Earlier I was taking out some rubbish and saw the leaves on a branch getting ready to burst into full, unfolded leaf life. Right now they are in that in-between state. But any day soon.
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