This has been bothering me for a long time. I use eBay a lot, and recently it has become less fun, but I can’t put my finger on why exactly.
The site is flooded with generic, no-brand products, (at least in the categories I spend most of my time) being sold for razor thin profits (usually [...]
SEO is full of Black Swans. If you’ve read Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s incredible book you’ll know just what that means, but if you haven’t just think of them as massive, unpredictable events that have profound effects.
Traffic spikes are Black Swans. So are #1 rankings in Google. SEOs are always chasing them, and like the deluded [...]
Dave Gorman has had trouble with his BT broadband. Reading his comments on BT’s customer service, I can sense his understanding that the people he’s talking to don’t have any power to help him.
Having worked in customer service I cringe every time I read stories like this because I know what it’s like to be [...]
In two days, I’ve been exposed to two SEO scams.
One company offers first place ranking in Google for £650. Their small print says that if this doesn’t happen they’ll refund you but keep an admin fee of £75. What’s more, their “first place” seems to be in sponsored ads not organic results. You can buy [...]
My favourite TV critic Charlie Brooker has a piece in the Guardian about SEO. It’s interesting to see how someone outside of the business sees it and in this case he sees the particularly unlikeable aspects of it. Stuffing topical keywords into online articles is all it is apparently.
Doing SEO for small or new businesses [...]
I love Dave Allen’s Getting Things Done, and my life is governed by to do lists. In fact, managing my system can be a pleasant distraction from actually doing work.
One thing I notice from time to time is that some tasks sit around on my list forever, never going anywhere, always being demoted in favour [...]
CG Textures is a great site that gives away pretty good texture images for use as you see fit. I needed some for a project I’m working on, and these are better than a lot of the dross I’ve found.
Is it the way websites are used, or is it all the frilly bits? Where does the confusion come from?
Design is literally the opposite of an accident. It is when things are done for a purpose, or when a choice is made from many competing options.
So graphic design and usability as they relate to the [...]
The best way to learn is to do. When you learn from someone else, you can get a good overview, but the details are missing. Learning on the job provides a better sense of the “feel” of something. That intuitive touch that experts have.
When I first learned to cook, I measured out everything to the [...]
Twice recently I’ve seen two high-profile blogs write about weight loss techniques which I have seen refuted by professionals. Number one: targeted weight loss, the idea that certain exercises will remove fat from only certain parts of your body, which is just false. Number two: low-carb diets, which I thought had been shown to create [...]