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Great news on the contracting front: My efforts are paying off, and I am receiving flurry of small contracts and a slew of job leads! I’ve also had three phone interviews and offers for a few more just within the past few weeks. I am beginning to think that the job market around here is experiencing a case of summer fever. Several other IT compadres are also having better luck as well, but the full-time and contracting scene in the Bay Area is still dragging its feet and its ass. Yep, this turnabout market is still one tough nut to crack, but it looks like I have done it.
Anyway, one of my contracts is building a website and programming features for a San Francisco bar/club. As soon as it's ready, I’ll post the link for everyone to see. Another is a small eCommerce integration, and yet another involves Flash on a website, a feat that my right-brain self has never attempted until now. But the hot spots of hi-tech move around over time, and IT geeks know that they have to bend, twist, and turn with the industry. So to turn and turn will be my delight, ‘till by turning, turning I come ‘round right. (If you don’t know where that quote came from, just forget it!).
Another exhilarating prospect for me is to build out my own business services very soon, and eventually start a small firm in the Financial District or SOMA. I have several business partners already who wish to do something similar as well, and we may eventually join forces and shake up the neighborhood with a new office. We each have our own services portfolio, clientele, and creative ideas, so now all we need is to believe in success. Add to this a few more buddies who are now victims of fresh Bay Area layoffs, and by Sam Hill, we just may have a company here!
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(By Daniel Culveyhouse | No comments yet | comment here)
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My blog site just got another traffic boost shortly after I published my blog for syndication in many newswire services. The technology that allows other sites and services to syndicate your writing is called RSS, which uses XML formatting, and it’s possible to wire up your site with an RSS feed. But as you might guess, it’s not easy to learn or understand, and there are currently seven versions of RSS that you must connect with, depending upon the news conglomerate. In the simplest terms, we webmasters build an RSS file, which contains headlines and links to full stories and which we update frequently. Then, we make the RSS file known to the news world by submitting its URL to the industry-at-large. Then, we sit back and watch the world read our stories, gossip, and general bitching.
In nearly every reputable company, webmasters and editorial directors submit their company’s websites for general feeds. That is, if they are good at what they do and know of this clear opportunity. To neglect to syndicate a business site— especially if you have frequent news updates— is, well, neglectful. That’s like building a $50,000 marble & granite bathroom then pissing your pants each night! But there are many editors that never take advantage of this, although it’s been out for years!
As a service to the yet-to-be-syndicated blogsmiths and editors, tomorrow I will publish a how-to guide for building your own RSS feeds. Based on the influx of traffic to this site in the past few days, there is no doubt that it is essential for writers and businesses alike.
I submitted my feeds to a dozen syndicates, and I’ve watched my total visitors creep higher and higher each day. I am popping up left and right on many search engines and news crawlers, and some of the search terms that people use to stumble across my site are hilarious! Here are my favorites for this week:
Visitor’s Search Strings (and my snide remarks):
“Tony and Tina’s Wedding” - I prefer Tony & Tony’s Wedding, but I never mentioned this in my blog… ?
“Is Sam Hill from Michigan” - no, he was not, and anyway as I stated, he’s dead.
“Secret Service Oppressive” – well, this is still up for debate.
“Secret Service Detain Student Oakland” – yes, they did. this is unfortunate.
“My DFEH case took 11 months” – not surprising at all.
“Jakarta Indonesian Java Bigots” – huh?
“Ravel Satie Gay” – I wonder if this lady found what she was looking for?
“Daniel Culveyhouse Police Hair” - What? !!! Well, someone must be digging up dirt, and their hair is probably falling out.
“Cass County Sewer Project Vote” – you go girl, get that sewer proposal out of everyone’s hair!
“Corn Dogs Coney Island” – I have NO clue how this person landed in my blog.
“IT Freelancing Partner Hosting Cupertino” – hey, what do you know, the system works after all!
“San Francisco F*** Naked Parade Pot” – ok, someone’s lost their marbles.
“Boppal Bhopal Bopal Bobel Disaster” – I think I’m cross-syndicated or cross-pollinated with another news source or something here. An explosion in Bhopal, India killed 30,000 people in the ‘80s.
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(By Daniel Culveyhouse | See the 10 comments | comment here)
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