I quickly grew to hate Craigslist. But…

I recently started doing SEO for one of our Phoenix moving company clients.  After designing and building a new site, complete with new copy and a onsite optimization, I proposed running daily Craigslist ads.  Granted, the ads aren’t doing anything in the way of SEO, but my job is to generate traffic, period.

One of my friends at work challenged the idea, and her point was valid.  ”Is Craigslist really the kind of platform for a brand as big as this client’s?  My point was simply that A) it’s free and B) you can’t ignore the popularity of Craigslist and the traffic it gets.

We hashed it out and decided to move forward.  And the results have been impressive.  Craigslist has risen to become one of the site’s top referrers, and we’ve seen conversions, too.

1.  Target: 1996-1997

Position: Pull Team Member

What I Did:  Stocked shelves

Why I Quit:  I just wanted to earn my Target “bulls eye” pin.  Yeah, back in the day you had to earn that pin, now they just give it to everyone.  Plus I just wanted to do something else.

2.  City of Scottsdale, Prosecutor’s Office: 1998

What I Did: Clerk

Why I Quit:  This job was through some bullshit elective class I took my senior year.  It was only meant to last a semester.  But I did implement the first ever catalog system for photo radar tickets.  Photo radar was still new at the time, and they used to just pile all the ticket jackets in an empty cubicle.  Yours truly was heavily involved in building a system for them.

3.  Blockbuster: 1998-1999

What I Did: Mostly argue with customers about why they had late fees.

Why I Quit:  Enlisted in the Navy

4.  United States Navy: 1999-2003

What I Did: Photography, Videography, Broadcast Television, Media Composer Editor, and all kinds of other cool shit

Why I Quit:  Got my honorable discharge in September 2003.  I never intended to do more than one enlistment.

5.  Carpenter Apprentice: 2003-2004

What I Did:  Mostly I got yelled at.

Why I Quit:  I actually got sort of fired (though the guy I worked for was and still is a good friend, and is still my contractor).  I had no idea what I was doing anyway.

6.  Delivery Driver: 2004

What I Did:  Deliver office supplies for a couple hours first thing in the morning.

Why I Quit:  I think that’s pretty self-explanatory

7.  Private Investigation Company: 2004

What I Did:  Background checks, skip traces (find people) and corporate espionage

Why I Quit:  Though everything we did was completely legal (we were licensed by the Arizona Department of Public Safety), that’s a shady industry, and I had some serious ethical issues with that job.

8.  Freelance Videography and Photography: 2004-2005

What I Did:  Shot videos of live concerts, band photos

Why I Quit:  Wasn’t making enough money, and I really hated working with snot nosed band kids.

9. Hewlett Packard: 2005-2006

What I Did: Hardware & Network Technician

Why I Quit:  The HP partner I worked for was based out of San Diego, and they lost their foothold in Arizona.  Wasn’t enough work for me.

10.  Style Door & Trim: 2007-2008

What I Did: Office Manager/Bookkeeper

Why I Quit: Had to quit to take care of my old man during his final years.

11.  Private Aviation Company: 2010

What I Did:  Social Media Manager & Front Office Coordinator

Why I Quit:  The owner kept telling me how to answer the phone.

Side note:  Over 1,000 people applied for this position, and I went through a 4 phase hiring process.  In my first week, I had brought in over $1,000 in discovery flight sales.  The owner of the company was a micro-managing dillweed who was way too interested in appearances.

12.  Social Media Company: 2010

What I Did: Facebook page designs, some print work, photography

Why I Quit: Two reasons – 1) The partner who was the so called “social media guru” knew about as much about social media as I know about being a Chinese space pilot.  And 2) the partners were very, very, very religious, so the tone of the office was “Praise the Lord” and “….because their good Christians.”  For the record, I have no problem with that, but when it becomes the day to day mantra of the office, it gets to be a little too much.

13.  Freelance Web Design/Development, SEO: 2006-2011

What I Did:  Web design, front-end development, CMS, SEO, etc.

Why I Quit:  Despite the day jobs, I never stopped doing freelance web work (my true calling).  I don’t do freelance anymore, because I have a kick ass agency job now.

“No luck in the job search. Web designers are a dime a dozen, I think, and freelancing is just getting old.“

That’s what I tweeted at 6:51 PM on April 16, 2011, and that’s the tweet that got me the job I have today.

I know, I know.  There’s been like a million posts on “The Power of Twitter” and “Why You Should Be Using Social Media.”  Well here’s another one bitches, so suck it.

Just kidding.  Or am I?

In all super seriousness, I’m a fan of social media.  When I first started freelancing years ago and discovering Twitter, I was amazed at the networking possibilities it offered.  It became my gateway into the Phoenix web industry, and before I knew it, I was actually getting small jobs from contacts I’d made (my first being some design for a WordPress plugin built by a developer in Little Rock).

Granted I’ve not made the leaps and bounds that many others have considering how long I’ve been using social media, but I’ve gone through a few different accounts over the years.  Regardless, I continue to use it and see no end to my participation in the social cloud.

But anyway, back to the story.  After a hiatus during which I was basically acting as a caregiver for my old man before he passed, I jumped back into the world of web design but wasn’t really sure what was going on in the business.  I started to reconnect with old contacts and quickly began picking up some freelance work.  But I became demotivated with doing freelance again, so I decided to put together the old resume and see about landing a proper web design/developer position.

I took the traditional route by searching job sites and sending my resume.  I never heard back from those companies I’d applied with.  Then, one April evening, I posted the above mentioned tweet.

The chain reaction of what happened next was pretty epic.  First I received a message through LinkedIn (of which my Twitter updates get displayed) from a web developer in L.A. with whom I had no relationship nor knowledge of.  He mentioned that AIR Marketing in Phoenix was hiring.  I’d heard of AIR before and took a look at their website.  After seeing who their big name clients were, I pretty much figured that there was no way I’d get a job with an agency like that, so I did nothing.

Then, as if the planets were aligned, the Digital Director (Mark) at AIR contacted me via Twitter and asked how my job search was going.  Now keep in mind that the developer from LinkedIn had never contacted Mark about my tweet, it was purely coincidence.  We spent some time rapping via Facebook chat, and a couple days later he was sending me a few small development jobs.

A couple weeks later he brought me in to do a pseudo-formal interview with himself and another developer.  Less than a week after that I was working out of the office, getting a feel for the agency and talking with some of the folks there.  And by the end of that first week, I’d been formally offered the full-time position.

Boom.  Head shot.

So there you have it.  A tweet that turned into probably the best job I’ve ever had – an awesome agency with an awesome way of doing things, and people that I genuinely enjoy seeing and working with.

Those of us who stay active in social media know too well the naysayers who simply can’t wrap their heads around why people would “waste” their time on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and the slew of other networks with updates, photos, random thoughts and whatnot.  This is why, you balloon heads.  Because people are talking via these networks, and people are paying attention to what’s being said.

End of story.

WRONG!

Art is subjective, web design isn’t.  There’s a reason we follow certain best practices when designing a website.  We understand things like color theory, typography, white space and composition.  These design concepts have a meaning behind them, and they can have a direct impact on how your audience perceives your website and its message.

For example, I once worked with a company in the renewable energy industry.  They were insistent on creating a website similar to the look and feel of Apple’s site.  Apple’s site is slick looking, but it’s a technology site.  When you think “eco” or “environment,” do you think of black and shades of gray?  I don’t.  I think of green and earth tones.  Now is that subjective?  No, it’s common sense.  Color means something, so choose it wisely.

2. “Our customer will understand how great we are because of all this ‘smart sounding’ copy.”

WRONG!

Most website copy reads like it was written by doped up monkeys.  It’s that “academic” sounding copy that really brings my piss to a boil.  The fact is your audience probably has no idea what the hell you’re talking about.  Granted, I completely understand why people write this kind of copy.  When I started my first web design business years ago, my site was saturated with web design and development lingo.  Over the years I came to understand that users aren’t looking for that.  They’re looking for a message that speaks to a solution for their needs.

In fact, I’m a firm believer that all that smarty language can actually hurt your website, as it may overwhelm your audience and drive them away.  When it comes to copy it’s always better to keep it simple.  Powerful headlines followed by some short and sweet copy are far more effective at relaying your message.  It’s better to back up your experience or abilities with examples of work.  Say it with me – case studies!  They’re gold.  Use them.

3.  “Our business really doesn’t need to get involved in social media.”

WRONG!

I truly feel for social media professionals, and yes, I do believe that there is such a thing as a “Social Media Specialist.”  Social networks have changed the online game in more ways than one.  They bring a whole new way of engaging directly with your audience.  And let’s not forget that social media and SEO are no longer exclusive of one another.  So when clients want to focus their efforts on SEO but want to completely disregard getting involved in social media, I tend to get a little irritated.

It really makes no difference if you think that Facebook is a fad or it’s “gay.”  It doesn’t matter if you think Twitter is a waste of time or checking in on Foursquare is dumb.  Millions upon millions of people are using these networks on a daily basis, and your customers are, too.  Welcome to the year 2011.  Get with the times or get left behind.

4.  “SEO is a waste of time and money.  We’re confident that our $30,000 website will be enough.”

Good luck.

5.  “We can’t justify spending that much on a website.  Some guy on Craigslist said he could do it for $500.”

WRONG!

Oh.  My.  God.  Welcome to the world of web design.  Thanks to Adobe Dreamweaver (WYSIWYG enemy #1), or as I like to call it, Satan’s Asshole, every swinging dick who had even the most remedial ability to use Photoshop was suddenly a full fledged web designer.  And thanks to Dreamweaver’s design mode, these clowns didn’t have to learn any code.  So they took to Craigslist, your one stop shop for inviting serial killers and prostitutes into your lives, to sell amazing websites for the low, low price of $199.99.  They may even throw in your branding for an extra $39.99.  Thanks to these “website farmers,” many businesses (even some of the bigger ones) really don’t understand the true cost and time involved in building a successful website.

My original plan was to purchase a complete, external cooling system.  There aren’t too many of them out there, and most of them don’t have the best reviews.  They’re also pretty pricey and obviously don’t give you the ability to do any real customization.

I decided to configure the system from scratch using parts from various manufacturers.  I spent some hours researching and looking at reviews, and I’m pretty confident in the parts I’ve got on order.

The first thing I did is configure a loop that will best work with my Thermaltake Level 10 GT case.  Of course, there are many ways to configure a liquid cooling system, but this is what I’m choosing to do.

Click Image for Larger View

This may be a dicey move, as I’m mounting a 240mm Black Ice radiator at the top of the case and bringing in cool air while leaving only a single 140mm fan for exhaust.  There’s a lot of debate about mounting radiators at the top since warm air rises, but I’m hoping that by using liquid cooling and reducing the amount of internal fans, a single exhaust will suffice.

The Components

1.  Reservoir

XSPC Dual 5.25" Bay Reservoir - houses the pump

2.  The Pump

Swiftech MCP655 Pump

3.  Top Radiator

Black Ice GTX Xtreme 240mm Radiator

4.  Bottom Radiator

Black Ice GT Stealth 120mm Radiator

5.  CPU Water Block

Swiftech Apogee XT (Rev 2)

6.  GPU Water Blocks

Koolance GTX 570/580

There are an assortment of other liquid cooling accessories to add to this loop, but these are the main components.  The first thing I’ll be doing is building and testing this system outside of the case.

Stay tuned for the next article in this series, where I’ll be installing the first hardware and the liquid cooling system.

The first item on the list is the tower, and I’m all about the full ATX.  The bigger, the better I say.  I was very pleased with the Antec P180 I used for my prior setup, but tower designs have progressed quite a bit since then, so I went back to my old friend Thermaltake to see what kind of chassis they’ve come out with.

I was quite taken with the Level 10 tower.  It’s definitely unique, and I’m a big fan of modular design in a case.  But I wasn’t quite ready to drop $799 on just the tower, so I opted to go with its counterpart, the Level 10 GT for a more reasonable $279.

There are plenty of expansion slots and I/O ports, and the cooling system is powered with three 200m fans and one 140 mm fan.  What really sold me on the Level 10 GT was that the case was designed with cable management in mind.  Cable management is the bane of building custom PCs, but the GT comes with a series of built in tunnels through which you can bundle and run cables.  I’m also planning on employing a liquid cooling system, and the GT is liquid ready with pre-built holes reserved for tubing.

Good cable management is critical for a high performance gaming PC.

I was also impressed with the five easy access trays for the hard drives.  Of course, PC hard drives aren’t hot swappable, but replacing or adding them will be a cinch since you don’t need to open the case to get to the drives or use tools to secure them.

The only think I don’t care for in this case is the color shifting fans.  I really don’t need that kind of flashy nonsense.  Luckily you can easily disable this feature.

Like most PC components, there are no shortages of towers to choose from.  I’m happy with the Level 10 GT because it manages to integrate everything someone like me would want in an ATX tower.

In part 2 of “Building a Custom Gaming PC,” I’ll be walking through the next stage of the build – the liquid cooling system.  Stay tuned nerds!

I love any kind of tool that deals in analytics, and Klout is no exception.  The website and interface are simple and intuitive, and they give you a number of ways to compare yourself to those in your social media network.

Dabbler? Dabble this, tool!

Like many social media enthusiasts, I’ve become a bit obsessed with Klout.  It’s one of the first things I check each morning, always hoping to see my score rise a little bit more.  I particularly like how Klout measures what topics you’re most influential about.  But this feature is a little questionable.

For example, right now Klout has determined that I’m influential on three topics: seo, television, and beer.  Wait.  Beer?

How did "Beer" get on the list?

I can definitely see how Klout has added “SEO” and “television” to the list of topics I’m influential in.  I tweet a lot about SEO, and I try to engage other SEOs as much as possible on Twitter.  As for television, I use the IntoNow app on my iPhone almost daily.  The app detects what your watching on t.v. and then shares this on Twitter and Facebook.  But the “beer” thing is interesting.  Only once since I’ve used Klout have I mentioned anything about beer.  I’d posted on my Facebook wall, as well as through Twitter, a link to what I thought was one of the best beer commercials ever.

No one shared, “Liked”, or commented on the wall posting in Facebook.  No one replied or re-tweeted the update in Twitter.  So clearly it wasn’t a very engaging post.  So why does Klout believe that I’m influential on beer based on this solitary post/update?

The Klout score itself is a little goofy, too.  It’s based on 35 variables on Twitter and Facebook.  And just like with search engine algorithms and SEO, Klout doesn’t make available the variables it uses to measure your influence and assign you a score.  While I understand this, of course, I don’t understand the score fluctuations that sometimes happen.  I’ve seen some people in my social network rise rapidly one day, then plummet the next day.  And these are people who work in social media every day.

I realize that Klout is just a helpful gauge to give you some insight into your influence, but I think true social media influence can’t be measured like this.  I’m also concerned about how  accurate these measurements are.  Based on that, I’d be hesitant to use Klout as a means to showing social media clients the effectiveness of their Twitter and Facebook campaigns.

Still, I really like Klout as an analytics tool.  It’s also worth noting that they’re still in beta, so I’m sure there are lot of tweaks and adjustments in the works.

On the morning of February 6 this year, I was drinking a cup of coffee and eating a couple slices of wheat toast when I started feeling what I thought was nothing more than heartburn.  Within 15 minutes, I was feeling pain that I’ve never felt before.  The best way I can describe it is this: a balloon covered in shards of glass slowly expanding in your torso.  It was enough to have me rushing to the emergency room at Scottsdale Healthcare Thompson Peak (which thankfully is only a few minutes from my house).

I could barely speak by the time I walked to the check-in desk.  Every movement, every breath was like being stabbed with a dozen knives.  My breathing was so shallow because of the pain that I couldn’t speak.  Luckily I got into an ER room fairly quickly, and by the time they were sticking me with an IV, I was all but begging for someone to just knock me out.  The next 10 minutes may have been 10 hours thanks to the pain.  They couldn’t give me anything just yet, as no one knew what was going on.

Eventually they juiced me up with a steady supply of morphine, which did help to some degree.  They started their battery of tests (blood work, ultrasound, etc.) and finally decided to admit me into the hospital.  The next 12 hours were maybe the worst of my life.

The following Monday morning started with an MRI.  The pain had subsided, but was replaced by a blinding headache (which I’ve suffered from all my life).  Later in the afternoon I met with a gastrointestinal doctor to go over the results of the scan.  My gallbladder was ready to explode.  It was inflamed and surrounded with fluid, and I had many gallstones in both the gallbladder and the common bile duct.

Gallbladder removal is the most common surgery in adults today, so the solution was simple: take it out.  After doing some reading on my iPad and talking more with the doctors, I signed the consent.  The next day I underwent laparoscopic gall bladder removal surgery (cholecystectomy).

The next Wednesday I was released from the hospital, but these attacks were far from done.  Over the next two months I would make four more trips to the emergency room, each time in agony.  On my third visit, I was so out of it from the pain that I was wandering aimlessly around the waiting room clutching at the walls.  I underwent another procedure where the surgeon makes a tiny incision in the Sphincter of Oddi (a muscular valve that controls the flow of bile and digestive juices) to drain any residual tiny stones or bile out of the system.

During my final extended stay at the hospital, one of my doctors spent some time in my room.  He said that he’d never seen nor heard of anything like what I was going through, and he said the other doctors and surgeons involved in my case agreed.  They were at a point of what he called “chasing zebras,” which in essence meant they had no idea what was going on and were having to research rare conditions that could apply to me.

Eventually the attacks stopped.

Now in most cases, people who have their gallbladder removed go back to eating whatever they want.  As there are no more gallstones, there’s no real threat of inducing more painful attacks.  Some people end up having to change their diets a bit.  Some people can no longer handle alcohol, some can’t handle too much saturated fat, and so on.  I seem to have fallen into a much smaller category of people.  Pretty much all food bothers me.

I obviously cut out fast food and soda following my surgery.  Then sweets, pastries, high sugar, fat and salty foods.  I basically stopped eating anything deemed “bad for you.”  But then the daily digestive problems started happening.  Even though my diet was very healthy, more foods became problematic.  Breads, meat and dairy all cause some form of discomfort.  There have been days where I’ve had a couple slices of wheat bread with butter and jam only to pay dearly for it the next day.  Most mornings I wake up in pain, usually from severe heartburn or acid reflux, which I never suffered from before.

In the end, I’ve whittled my diet down to some assorted fruits and vegetables, low-fat yogurt, and the occasional bit of white rice.  I typically eat only one meal a day, as eating in general causes discomfort, nausea or other lifestyle disruptions, and I can’t have my problems affecting my ability to function at work.

I’m still getting used to these extreme diet changes and how they’ve altered my daily life.  Most people get kind of moody when they’re hungry.  Well, I’m pretty much hungry all the time, but I can’t splurge on food unless I’m prepared to suffer the consequences.  So in the meantime I just try and keep a distance.  It’s pretty awkward when people all around you are enjoying good food and drink, and you’re the knucklehead standing there holding a bottle of water.  Not to mention that I don’t need people feeling guilty about eating in front of me.  Better I stay out of sight, out of mind.

1. I can only read when I’m walking around.

Most people read sitting or laying down. Who doesn’t like to curl up with a good book? Me, that’s who. But I do read, a lot actually. The only difference is I can only pay attention to what I’m reading if I’m walking around while doing it. This is a recent discovery. Not long ago I purchased several books all relating to web development, SEO and whatnot. I sat down to start the first one and I got about 2 pages into it before I completely lost interest in what I was reading. This happens to me all the time, and it’s frustrating. It takes way too long for me to finish a book because I can never pay attention for more than a few pages.

Then one day I grabbed one of my books to reference some jQuery. As I walked from my bedroom to my office, I started flipping to the chapter I was looking for. Before I knew it, I was reading page after page, completely focused. But I was pacing as I was doing it. It dawned on me that, for whatever reason, walking around helps me read longer and retain more of the subject.  The downside is that this practice isn’t the most comfortable, especially when it’s a big, heavy book.

2.  My obsession with clean mirrors and angles.

I think everyone has some level of OCD disorder.  For many people, it affects their ability to function in the world.  In my case it’s more of a nagging frustration that occasionally affects my lifestyle.  I’m talking about dirty mirrors and angles.  I’ve always been a very clean and organized person.  When I was a teenager it was a problem because I would obsessively double check things to make sure they were neat and in order.  I’ve come to a comfortable place with my cleanliness obsession, but mirrors still get me every time.  It’s those damn streaks!  Sometimes after I clean a mirror I’ll start looking at it from different angles because I know some streaks aren’t visible when you’re looking at the mirror head on.  Even when I’m sure the mirror is absolutely spotless, I’ll get that feeling that those streaks are still there, mocking me.

Angles are another issue.  I have the sneaking suspicion that my co-workers may have noticed my constant habit of aligning objects on my desk.  Depending on where the item is set, I’ll have to adjust it so it’s perfectly aligned with the edge of the desk, equidistant on all sides from the adjacent object.  Yeah, I know.

3.  My extreme self-criticism

A group of us from work attended a client meeting recently.  The goal of this meeting was to address some issues and determine how we would continue to serve the client.  My purpose was to give them an overview of search engine optimization.  Afterwards, in the parking lot, we briefly talked about how well the meeting went, but as per usual, I wasn’t the least bit pleased with myself.  I know I did my job and did it well, but I have this overly critical view on whatever I do.  There’s really no explaining it, but this happens a lot.  Granted, it’s not all bad.  Never being satisfied with what you do or how you do it keeps you sharp.  But sometimes I spend a little too much time dwelling on some irrational idea that I “blew it.”

4.  Heights

I have a real problem with heights.  Enough said.