Becoming An SEO Expert In Palm Desert

If you want to become known as the Palm Desert SEO Expert, all you have to do is create a blog, post once a day, or at least a couple of times per week, ensuring you include the search terms you expect people to use to find your blog or website, add keywords in your META data, and like magic, you will rise to the top of the heap and be found on the front page of Google. That sounds easy, right?

OK, I am often in the semi-facetious mode when I write things like that. The truth is, many people lack the time or talent to create a blog and write useful copy daily, or even weekly for that matter. It takes some fairly simple skills to create a blog, but it takes some serious dedication and a bit of writing talent to produce useful content to share with your audience. Then there's all of that "behind the scenes" stuff, called META data.

Lest I leave out the rest of this story, you also have to promote your blog and/or your website, through every method available to you. Yes, you guessed it. That means Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, and any other social networking resource where you can post content.

I almost forgot to mention two more rules. If you want to be found by someone searching for "Palm Desert SEO Expert", be sure to include those words in your title (if possible) and definitely within the body of the content you are posting on your blog and your website.

You can also cheat a bit, with a paragraph like the one below. Here I simply paste from a stored text file a standard explanation of who I am and what I do. It makes perfect sense that if I expect you to take advice from me, you should know something about me and my business.

That's the best advice I have for you in this SEO expert dissertation. One last thing, though: Do your best to post original content (for two reasons).

  1. your words and your sentence structure become your voice.

  2. if you have to use someone else's content to make your point, maybe you are not the expert after all!


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Diligently working toward becoming your Palm Desert SEO Expert; Rouzell Enterprises is a Palm Desert based company providing compassionate care to people who use computers. This includes computer repair and computer support, also computer training and network support, and social media training and support. If you have any need for SEO,regarding computers, networks, or social media, one call to Brian Rouley at Rouzell Enterprises is all it takes to get the help you need.

When In Doubt, Reboot

Rouzell Enterprises offers computer support and training. We are in Palm Desert and cover all of Coachella Valley. If you need help with your computer, or just need a bit of training and support to help you be just that little bit better at using your PC, call or write and I'll see you soon.

This might be the silliest thing I have to say, but I have to say it. If something stops working on your computer for no reason at all, you probably should reboot your computer. Restarting Windows computers does a "reset” of the system in a way that often restores full functionality. And, you'll save yourself some level of angst, frustration, and potential wasted time, if you'll just reboot and get back to work.

You can relieve yourself of that feeling of disgust for Microsoft by welcoming this opportunity to “take five” while your computer logs off, shuts down, and the system restarts. Seriously, don't watch the computer reboot. As soon as you click, “Restart” - get up, think of some productive or more relaxing thing you can do for the next few minutes and go!

To try to put a positive spin on this situation, I offer this analogy. Suppose you stopped your car at some in and out kind of place, where you did not shut off the engine, because you are coming right back after doing what you are going to do. When you get back into your car, you find the engine still running, but your steering wheel won't move, or you cannot depress the brake pedal, or you can't move the gear selector into drive or reverse. Reflecting on the approach in paragraph two above, you take the Microsoft approach to resolution. You turn the key in the ignition to shut off your car, take a breather and a moment to relax, then  start the engine again, and all your controls are restored. Now you can steer, brake, and shift gears and drive away. This would be a minor miracle! Yes, we know it doesn't work that way, because your car is not running Windows.

But Microsoft Windows very often does work this way. It is a mystery or a conundrum, but either way, you get to start using your computer again and get back to all of that “time saving work” you were doing before you were forced to take a break.

Learn this one lesson and you'll spend less time with that sinking feeling, you'll make fewer calls crying out for help, you'll enjoy a few minutes of up time as you take a short walk and do something better than staring into the monitor, and you'll probably reduce your blood pressure and the level of stress in your life. Thank you, Microsoft, for making all of this special time available to me.

One of my clients astutely observed

One of my clients astutely observed; “A new computer comes with collateral costs.” http://ow.ly/chI73



Diligently working toward becoming your Palm Desert SEO Expert; Rouzell Enterprises is a Palm Desert based company providing compassionate care to people who use computers. This includes computer repair and computer support, also computer training and network support, and social media training and support. If you have any need for SEO, or help with computers, networks, or social media, one call to Brian Rouley at Rouzell Enterprises is all it takes to get the help you need.

Pulled away by a story on CBS Sunday Morning

pulled away by a story on the CBS Sunday Morning program. http://goo.gl/yNLhZ

Remember to backup. Your pictures and videos are precious, too!


Rouzell Enterprises is a Palm Desert based company providing compassionate care to people who use computers. This includes computer repair and computer support, also computer training and network support, and social media training and support. If you have any need regarding computers, networks, or social media, one call to Brian Rouley at Rouzell Enterprises is all it takes to get the help you need.

Old Fashioned Marketing - Meetings

Old Fashioned Marketing - Going to a meeting this morning at 7:30 AM, through teaching Twitter and HootSuite later this evening. http://ow.ly/bG3FD

Rouzell Enterprises is a Palm Desert based company providing compassionate care to people who use computers. This includes not only computer repair and computer support, but also computer training and network support, along with social media training and support. If you have any need regarding computers, networks, or social media, one call to Brian Rouley at Rouzell Enterprises is all it takes to get the help you need.

Five Things About Rouzell

Five Things About Rouzell - PDACC request: "5 facts about your business, products and or services so we can promote you”. http://ow.ly/bpPB3
Rouzell Enterprises is a Palm Desert based company providing compassionate care to people who use computers. This includes not only computer repair and computer support, but also computer training and network support, along with social media training and support. If you have any need regarding computers, networks, or social media, one call to Brian Rouley at Rouzell Enterprises is all it takes to get the help you need.

 

Diligently working toward becoming your Palm Desert SEO Expert; Rouzell Enterprises is a Palm Desert based company providing compassionate care to people who use computers. This includes computer repair and computer support, also computer training and network support, and social media training and support. If you have any need for SEO, or help with computers, networks, or social media, one call to Brian Rouley at Rouzell Enterprises is all it takes to get the help you need.

Only A Few Days Left

Only A Few Days Left - Then I have to pay for my subscription to this service. As much as I like this platform for CMS, I will have to consider what I am getting for my money. Chances are, I’ll pay.  After one heck of a weekend, I am (unusually) at a loss for words. I’m tired and worried about how things will go for my business, as I’ve decided to move back to a home office temporarily. Having an office is a luxury and until my business achieves a more consistent revenue stream, I’ll have to endure without the peace and quiet of my own space. Such is life. In the meantime, I’m working on new material for classes on social media and blogging, for classes I’ll be teaching over the next few months. I’ll share my results here, with you. That’s all for now. BR http://ow.ly/aAUIh

Blogging Preserves Memory

One of my clients gave me a stack of information about memory, as in, how to preserve it. In one of those publications the point was made that maintaining social activity was one of many things one could do to keep the gray matter working well. This leads right into how computers have made so much socializing (albeit virtually) so much more possible.

To be continued....

So, it took me six days to find my way back to this topic. In the interim, I searched a bit for the proper title of this post, to allay fears of potential copyright violation. I've found that the phrase "Cognitive Impairment Is Not Inevitable" returns many results, so perhaps there is no problem with using this phrase as a title. That premise notwithstanding, I've already named this post more succinctly.

On with the show; there is some concern regarding the topic of cognitive impairment and I'm told that "mild cognitive impairment" is a phrase commonly used to describe elderly people during assessment. They are assessed as a part of the standard operating procedure of elder housing communities, whether that means independent, assisted living, or nursing homes or memory care communities. The point being that this impairment is pretty commonplace among the elderly and the premise of this article is that computer use can slow or perhaps reduce that deficiency. Much more research is in order, as usual, and this author intends to study the subject further, before posting much more about it.

Let me just say this. I am very interested in finding funding for research in this area. I would like to have the opportunity to work with people in a nearly completely uncontrolled study, to find if the use of computers and especially the use of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging, and any other "scrap booking" types of activity on computers will help to preserve memories, or even be the impetus for bringing memories to the surface for preservation.

At the risk of obviousness, allow me to point out the double-entendre here. A blog (the noun) might be a readily available place for some memory-rich person to share their experience with the world, while at the same time, blogging (the verb) might the the very activity that helps that same person to not lose the memories they have available to share with us. OK, so, blogging preserves memory and memories, the memory of the writer and their memories for the reader.

Recently, I met a lady named Blanche. My friend, Gene Shaw, told me that this lady's family moved to a different country each time a new child was added to the brood. Wouldn't you love to hear about that experience? I seriously want to know what it was like for a child to grow up in many different cultures. With some luck, I'll have a chance to chat with this lady again, and I'll ask her a few more questions. One of those questions will be: "Would you be willing to spend some time with me, so I can write down some of the memories you have about your childhood experiences?" If I get that chance, this blog will take a turn, for sure.

Until then, think of who you may know that should get on board with blogging. If you need any help getting started, or getting them started, look me up and ask me for help.

Brian Rouley
MouseHelp at Rouzell

IE - Pronounced Aiiiyyyeee

Sometimes Microsoft just marches in and changes things on your computer. Like when IE9 is insidiously installed without your knowledge or approval, it seems kind of heavy-handed, to put it gently. This can cause problems.

The simple solution is to stop using IE. Google Chrome, among many other players in this space, does a better job, with less overhead (in this humble writer's opinion - ITHWO?). There are other browsers and you have a choice. The choice you make might be based on this one piece of information: Microsoft IE is not a standards-based browser. Go ahead and search that phrase, to find the truth for yourself.

As much as Microsoft has created an industry that provides some modicum of revenue for my business needs, I have to bite the hand that feeds me here. Long ago, I began recommending Google as a better browser. Many of my new clients still use IE and suffer the pains of some of the "features" that come with that software. Alright, I'll admit it, I still use IE; mainly because some websites have been tweaked to work with it. But that is the point I make here; why should a website creator have to tweak his website to comply with Microsoft's lack of compliance with web standards? Does that sound silly to you?

That's all I'm going to say, except to suggest this: Google this phrase... "CSS the missing manual IE=Edge" and read that page. It clearly explains the conundrum of coding needed to make Microsoft IE8 play nice with web pages. OK, I'm done.

YABA – Yet Another Backup Article

Yes, you’ve heard this so many times already; it starts to sound like nagging. But, we must impress upon you the importance of this one thing. Losing data is really a bummer!

It’s bad enough that data may be lost in so many ways; hard drives crash, people steal things, lightning strikes, floods, pestilence, locusts. OK, that was a bit extreme, but you get my point. Things can happen that will cause your computer to fail, or to become unavailable to you, or more simply to deny you access to your precious files, photos, music, videos and all those programs you’ve installed and your favorites, bookmarks, links to things you may never use again, they are all lost when disaster strikes.

Unless you’ve been listening to the constant nagging mentioned above, and like a well-behaved child, you’ve taken the advice and backed up your hard drive, or at least your personal data files on the hard drive in one of the many ways soon to be described, yet again, in this article. Why, you might ask, am I saying this again? Because it’s 9:35 PM and I am babysitting an XCOPY DOS command, which is faithfully executing a transfer of data from a failing hard drive. And, as much as I am OK with having this work to do, you don’t want me to have to do it for you, too.

There are at least three ways you can protect your data; Cloud based storage (the latest thing), some external device (old faithful), and data synchronization (a kind of hybrid method that uses the cloud and other computers to mirror data directories).

There is no other purpose to backing up your data, except certainty that you can retrieve it when necessary. This is the bottom line, right in the middle of this article. That being said, here is one method; synchronization.

After a brief review of cloud-based backup services, including well-known names like Mozy and Carbonite, I settled on SugarSync. You may already know why, based on the name. Those other names in online backup are focused on ease of use, “set it and forget it” installation and configuration. For me, I chose synchronization, so I get backup and restore. In essence, that is what happens – my data is backed up to the cloud, then “restored” to a directory on another computer. Actually, there are three other computers. The likelihood of data loss is further reduced by the fact that each computer lives in a different environment. One is at home, one in my office, one is in an office in another city and one is a laptop. The chances of all four computers being lost, stolen, or dying simultaneously are pretty slim.

Even with all of that certainty, here is another backup method – disk image backup to a local external drive. Each of my computers has been backed up (at least once) by creating an image of the entire drive, and that file is stored on another disk. Given that hard drives today hold hundreds or thousands of gigabytes of data and there are only tens of gigs to preserve, there’s plenty of room for this method. For this, you can use a product called Shadow Protect desktop, made by StorageCraft. It’s not cheap, but it’s easy to understand and run and it can be used for continuous incremental updates. The only drawback here is that you really should store your backup drive in a location other than right next to your computer. One of my clients had his backup drive stolen along with his primary computer. He will not be restoring his lost data from that drive.  That’s the problem with local backup. This leads us to one more method.

You can get a 16 or 32 or even 64 GB USB drive with a backup program built into it. This handy little gadget provides the simplest method of protection. You plug it in, answer a few questions, and in a few minutes you’ll have all of your important documents in your hand. The downside is; it is a handy little gadget, which means it is easily lost. You must now protect it with all of the fervor commensurate with the value of the data on it. That means lock it in a safe, or at least keep it as safe as you would your car keys or your wallet. In other words, know where it is and don’t misplace it. Lose this little gadget and this backup strategy is pointless.

That’s it for now. I could beat this up a bit more by telling you how hard it is to put a dollar value on photos and documents you have created and stored on your computer. But, I won’t. I’ll simply repeat the basics here. Start backing up your data as soon as you realize it is valuable to you. Use one of the three methods mentioned here. Get a USB drive, use disk imaging software, or subscribe to some online backup service. Just do something before your computer is lost, or stolen, or simply dies from any number of natural or unnatural causes.

Stumble Upon Stuff v.1

That version number suggests this won't be a stand-alone entry. Today, while looking for a domain name that suggests the idea of keeping business local (that's a topic for a whole other rant), I came upon a backlinks analysis tool. You can find it here: http://www.dirgio.com/ba/ - and if you enter your domain name, you'll find which sites link back to your domain. Cool, huh?

Well, that's nowhere near the punch line. Wait for it! Wait for it....

One site that links back to rouzell.com is: http://www.reocities.com/Augusta/8928/ This is a website I created way back when, like around 1996 or 1997, It was updated a few times, like when our beloved Champagne died and I created a digital memorial to her life and times. She was a real beauty! But, that's not the punch line.

ReoCities turns out to be the Phoenix of GeoCities, an early "do-it-yourself" website creation website that allowed you to put together a site using some pretty basic file transfer utilities. It was pretty slick for the time and I thought it was a good idea to create these neighborhoods, or cities, and you could choose where your website would be listed. I chose Augusta, based on my passion for golf at that time. GeoCities was purchased by Yahoo!, who then shut down the site (for reasons I can only assume had to do with a lack of revenue - so you have to wonder why they bought it in the first place!) and if you were unfortunate enough to have spent any time on your creations there, you were about to be left high and dry by the then almighty, Yahoo! Enter ReoCities. Just one letter away from the aforementioned GeoCities, created specifically for the purpose of collecting and redeploying most of the data comprising GeoCities.

Go ahead and type in reocities.com and read all about it. When you get to the end of the story, click the last link on the right. Where it says, "madebyabi" and read some of that stuff. This guy is a "GeekJock", self-proclaimed and he freely offers links back to his sites, his email, etc. I dropped him a line to thank him for his efforts to help transition geo to reo in the cities resurrection.

OK, there's no punch line. This was just another example of random ramblings about how one thing leads to another and the path is as much fun as the destination. In the end, I relived a bit of history and found a new online resource for cool things done solely for the purpose of just being good, I guess. Also, I'm following Abi Noda on Twitter now, just to see what he is up to lately.

This post will find a short link and introduction on Twitter in a few minutes. For now, this is all I have to say. Here's hoping you found this enlightening or at least somewhat entertaining. I know I did.

The Social Network

Not knowing how much you don't know must make it easier to experience bliss. Now that I have seen the subject movie, somehow, I know a bit more about what I don't know. So, I find myself just that much farther from a blissful state.

Imagine that this could happen to you.... Your significant other breaks up with you because you are an arrogant (insert profane derogatory term here) and you storm back to your dorm room to drink and write nasty things in your blog. This leads to the further mischief of writing computer code that becomes the basis for a billion dollar company. OK, now imagine zero. Now imagine infinity and beyond. It seems a little far-fetched, wouldn't you say?

Maybe it happened that way. Maybe it didn't. I heard that Bill Gates (also portrayed in this movie) at some point would not talk to you if you were not a technical minded person. He considered it a waste of time. How we got to this point with the Internet and how we got to the point where social networking is done through computer applications seems strange to me. The history of the creation of the Internet is somehow far more compelling than the story of Facebook - but I still liked the movie.

And now I know that I've used further and farther in the same blog post. So, that's one more thing that I no longer don't know. The difference is so subtle and so severe at the same time - something like a spelling error would point out the subtle difference between severe and sever - so I'll cut it off here.

 Brian Rouley

Finally, I'm going to have to learn to program for real!

Yes, I've avoided it all these many years. When in college, I did truly enjoy programming, to the degree that any addictive personality afflicted individual would, I did. So, realizing that I was skipping meals, not going home on time, and not getting into the gym as often as I had been, alerted me to the idea that perhaps programming would have ill effects on my health. That's how much I liked it and that's how I justified discontinuing that part of my education. This may have been one of my greatest mistakes. Programmers get stuff done. They have made computers useful and they are responsible for all the cool stuff that is available today on the web.

Now, at my advance age, I realize that I have to learn CSS, just to get a handle on how to make my next website look right. I've used dozens of tools by now that will automatically create web pages for you and none of them produces anything I would want to claim as my work. So, it's back to basics for me. Maybe I'll even learn a bit about creating original graphics for use with my CSS enhanced website. Oh, to be twenty-something again and not know that time was going to become an enemy 30 years hence.

Today we exchange time for money. In that time, I can make your computer better and make you better with your computer. It pays the bills, but there are few thrills. The one thing that does brighten up a room, though, is when I feel a student is born by watching me at work. This happens often enough to be encouraging. In fact, it happened just recently, with my last new client. She realized I could show her a few things about the basics of using a computer that would make her digital life much easier and now she is excited about having me come back for a few private lessons. That kind of validation is precious.

That's all for today. I'll keep you posted on progress.

If you know anything about expression engine, feel free to post your comments.

Thanks.

Brian Rouley