solecism

It’s been three months (almost) since I wordpressed and relaunched disassociated.com so I thought I might indulge in a little navel gazing today.

Despite relaunching three months ago, I’ve been dabbling with web design and blogs (or online journals as they were once called) since 1997. Needless to say blogging has sure changed since the days I was writing an online journal ten or so years ago!

So anyway here are a few insights, peeves, and whatever, of mine from the last three months…

Promotion

It’s incredible what a little (or not so little) promotion can do for a blog.

Prior to the relaunch it had literally been years since I had seriously “gone out on the road” to do anything promotional. In fact I think the last time I really told anyone about disassociated.com was at the time it went from being a com.au domain to a com domain.

And that was four and a half years ago!

Short wonder I’ve had so few visitors in the last year or two. Anyway places like MyBlogLog have helped change that. These sorts of places were not around four or five years ago, and are an absolute boon for the promotion conscious blogger!

No Niche

Yes, well, what can I say? Anything goes at disassociated. com as it always has. Yes, I know that’s breaking the rules, but then disassociated ain’t named disassociated for nothing!

It’s a kind of personal site, uses SEO unhelpful one word post titles, and talks about presidents one day, and cabbages the next.

I’ve actually tried to give disassociated.com some “focus” at several points in the past, though I guess in an off beat way it’s always had that, if you consider comment and opinion a “niche”, that is. Comment and opinion on what though?

Well, yes, there we go…

Uptime…

Or is that downtime? Anyone coming through from digg.com especially, will know what I am talking about. I’ve had the fortune to have a few posts “dugg” in the last month or so, but each time my web host feels it is a DoS attack and takes the site off line!

It happened again yesterday, and although a redirect had been in place for more than 12 hours before the “digg”, the mirror page I had been diverting to seemed to fall over at the crucial moment. Seemingly the incoming digg traffic could not on-divert, and the web server started to melt down!

The problems don’t end there though. Unfortunately terms like “digg”, “blogosphere” “pro blogging” and any other web related neologism (oh yeah, let’s not forget “Wordpress”) dating after 1997, are met with what seems like bewilderment whenever I have to call the support desk.

My attempts to explain any of this continue to (apparently) fall on deaf ears, and it is with utmost disappointment that I will have to consider taking my web hosting off shore as a result.

Go Australian web hosting hey?

Content Producer?

I’ve been very fortunate these last few months to have extra time to devote to the relaunch, thanks to some very flexible work arrangements I have, and an ever slowly increasing hourly charge out rate!

And, no, I’m not a gigolo (though the question has been asked…), rather I assist, from time to time, various friends who have their own enterprises.

Seriously though, and you hear a lot of people say it these days, it would be great to turn some sort of income from disassociated.com… although that’s not going to happen with the current web hosting “limitations” I’m subject to.

Six Months

Anyway I hope you’re enjoying the disassociated experience. Stay tuned for my six month mark round up, but be sure and come back before then! ;)