June 23, 2005
Blogging | Movable Type
Syndicate Me
Atom and RSS feeds for this blog have always been available, but for those folks who aren't using a browser that can automatically detect them (like, ahem, Firefox or Opera), I've finally created direct links to them. See the links? Just over there to the right... down a bit... under the heading Syndication. :-)
For those of you new to blogging (like me), here is a really good definition of web syndication and an explanation of what Atom and RSS feeds are all about. While my Atom and RSS feeds could be used for a variety of (license compliant) purposes (Movable Type automatically includes my Creative Commons license in the feeds), I've mostly provided them for the majority of blog readers out there that use some form of aggregator. Let's face it, I don't blog every day, so why not make it easy for folks to automatically get my content when I finally do write something? It can be a pain clicking on a website several times a week just to find nothing new has been posted.
Posted by Adam Boddington at 04:26 PM | Comments (1)
May 26, 2005
Blogging | Movable Type | Search Engine Optimisation
Trackbacks Killed My Google Rank
I initially thought someone had finally dobbed me in to Google and let them know my blog was of no redeemable value whatsoever. It seemed my one post that was doing okay in the Google rankings, Optimising Movable Type for Google, had disappeared altogether from the optimising movable type google search. After some investigation though it turns out those damn trackbacks have come back to haunt me.
Posted by Adam Boddington at 11:17 AM | Comments (0)
May 20, 2005
Blogging | Movable Type | Search Engine Optimisation
Google Pain
Damn trackbacks. I went back to my previous post Optimising Movable Type for Google and put in trackbacks for all the blog entries that I referenced (those that would accept trackbacks anyway). Most blogs use rel="nofollow" on their comment and trackback links now (standard in Movable Type 3.16), so I wasn't expecting this to help the Google rank of my post at all. 'Twas more of a courtesy thing to let those folks know I had referenced them...
Well it turns out the trackbacks hurt my post's Google rank somewhat. Here are the before and after snapshots. You can see the title of my post has pushed one of Ander's posts up one slot (not a big deal since that post was already ahead of mine). Cre8asite has come out of no where, but that's the nature of the web. The other change is the Six Apart post on Cal's Dashify plugin. It has nothing to do with Google optimisation at all -- it simply has a trackback from my post. Google doesn't know that though, it just knows Six Apart's post is more important than mine and (now) has the right keywords. Argh! I suppose it's some consolation that anyone that goes there looking for information on Google optimisation will eventually click through to me.
Posted by Adam Boddington at 04:32 PM | Comments (0)
May 12, 2005
Blogging | Movable Type | Search Engine Optimisation
Google Optimisation Works!
Google has found my site! I'm not sure how, probably through a comment that I left on another blog. I wasn't quite ready for it as the CSS design isn't complete, but oh well, the HTML itself is fine.
Anyway, I searched for optimising movable type google and this is what I found.
It looks like the optimisation tips worked! For a brand new site that no one is referencing this has got to be an amazing result. Interesting that the US spelling of optimising, optimizing, doesn't work so well. Probably because I only have that spelling in the entry once, and in the URL itself. I might display my keywords under the posting information and see if that helps. It's also interesting that optimise, optimize, optimisation and optimization don't work at all.
Posted by Adam Boddington at 07:24 PM | Comments (0)
Keywords: Google Optimisation Optimization Works
May 05, 2005
Blogging | Movable Type
Cruft-Free, Future-Proof URLs
I recently embarked on a crusade to rid my Movable Type blog of all things cruft. Below is a bit of a spiel on what cruft is, followed by the process I went through to decruftify Movable Type.
Posted by Adam Boddington at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)
April 22, 2005
Blogging | Movable Type
Free License and Multiple Installations
Well it was probably a stupid question, but I like plain English explanations of licenses. I really can't be bothered trolling through legal code trying to figure out what is possible and what isn't. So I just plain asked upfront what I can do with my free Movable Type license with regards to multiple installations.
There's a bit of discussion, but in the end an individual holding a free license can only install their copy of Movable Type somewhere once. Multiple installations can occur on a single hosting account as long as each installation is attributable to a separate individual with a free license. So I can have an installation for myself and an installation for each of my relatives, as long as we all download our own separate copies and agree to the free license terms and conditions as part of that process.
Posted by Adam Boddington at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)
April 14, 2005
Blogging | Movable Type | Search Engine Optimisation
Optimising Movable Type for Google
For those that like to tinker, I found this enlightening post on optimising Movable Type for Google while looking for something else. A quick search found quite a bit on the topic (see links below). I decided to implement some of the suggested changes while my blog still has that new blog smell and also before it gets <cough /> referenced. For those interested in doing the same, here are some of the suggestions that I thought worthwhile.
Posted by Adam Boddington at 12:06 AM | Comments (0)
Keywords: Optimising Optimizing Movable Type for Google
April 13, 2005
Blogging | Movable Type
First Entry
Well I've finally started my blog. I've wanted to do this for a while but haven't gotten around to it until now.
Being a .NET guy, I initially went for Community Server 1.0 as my blogging tool. Unfortunately I had a lot of trouble with it out of the box, mainly the posting textbox and the single blog configuration (while possible, it was difficult to setup elegantly). There wasn't a whole lot of documentation either. I realised Community Server might be a little too immature for me to use just yet without spending a lot of time on it.
So the search was on for an alternative...
I soon found Movable Type 3.15. While not .NET or open source, it's still free for one author with a few blogs. Better yet it runs on my windows hosting account alongside my .NET applications (you just need CGI enabled and have the right version of Perl).
Installation was straight forward, even for a .NET guy like me. The usability and default look and feel is also impressive and it's easy to customise through a nice set of templates and custom tags. Too many pros to walk away from really so I think Movable Type is a keeper.
Posted by Adam Boddington at 07:26 PM | Comments (0)
Keywords: Community Server vs Movable Type