SEO by Chris Estes

After an unexpected break from blogging I am back from a few months of silence.

Over the past few months I have been honing my development skills in addition to getting back in to politics.  As I have indicated before… Once upon a time I worked in Politics.  I have been both a volunteer, activist, and professional in politics for the last 8 years.  Due to unforeseen circumstances related to the current state of the economy I decided it best to pursue using my degree and experience to join on the bandwagon.

I have taken a job on the ground in Oakland County, Michigan on the outskirts of Detroit working for a non-profit organization that shares similar values to me and most importantly the same goal.  After the election is over, November 4th, I will be back in the market pursuing a job as a regular person.  Aren’t we all just regular?  No, or at least a few months ago I didn’t think so.  I had convinced myself somehow that I was special.  In that  last few years I have worked hard and some how imagined myself  to be someone I am not.  In reality my illusion was allowing me to get away from what matters most.  Happiness. After years of working for even higher profile figures than me gave me hopes and dreams to be them.  After spending a summer with my parents taught me that it was all an illusion.  After spending months drifting about my parents house I came to the realization,  “I am regular!“  In fact I want to be regular.

As I came out of my daze I blew a couple interviews, unintentionally just did bad, and realized I love SEO and the challenge to the constantly changing SEO Universe.  But my place in the SEO community is low on to totum poll.  Sure I could rise to the top of the SEO community but that would bring very little to me.  So after this election is complete I will be back in SEO only part-time.  I am going to follow my instinct and go for a regular job with stability and most importantly with benefits.  I will continue to blog for personal fun and work with clients on a part-time basis.  Focusing on smaller numbers of clients will give me the ability to help create the perfect plan all the while not neglecting what is important to me.  I have two personal choices ahead of me.  1.  Return home and hope to get a good paying rewarding job (thinking something in construction or mill work). 2. Move back to DC and work my way up in government or the non-profit world.

The full-time life in SEO consulting is a bit to much stress in combination of high profile jobs is what drove me into the fog and ultimate burn out.  I want a full time job that at the end of the day or week I can look at and be proud of.  Weather that justification comes from hard work on an issue of championing a piece of legislation or helping family farmers navigate the rigors of Washington.  Being able to take a pile of dirt and create something like build a new Eco friendly power plant or make steel pipe that is helping end the dependency on foreign oil.  I want to be able to fulfill a quote may dad says very frequently “When they put me down in the ground. People will say there goes somebody that made a difference”.

How will SEO and your SEO business going to fit into that?  The same way I originally intended for it to be. I am going to put it back in the hobby category and part-time employment.  I am not ending SEO I am just not going to do as much as I was.

In my break I did lots of work on the growing area of Content Management systems and new technology using Adobe Flex.  Those article are sure to come at some point.  So stay tuned for updates.  I am adding an e-mail subscription via feedburner so that it can be delivered to your e-mail.  I have been writing on my personal blog lately about politics and other things.  Just so much going on in the world that needs my attention!

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In Michigan I am working with the Humane Society Legislative Fund.  I am heading up their “boots on ground” campaign.

Humane Society Legislative Fund is a social welfare organization incorporated under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code. HSLF works to pass animal protection laws at the state and federal level, to educate the public about animal protection issues, and to support humane candidates for office.

In this case I am heading up their team in Michigan’s Congressional District 9.  One of the most highly contested and closest races in the country.  To be asked to spear head this operation is very much a privilege and an honor.

As you know from previous posts I am a big supporter of non-profits and charities.  So instead of sharing a link for charity how about dropping them a donation.  It helps secure more than just your pets and wildlife it protects human rights also.  They are just as concerned with our well being as any other organization.  They are currently in the fight for changing the current state of affairs.  No other politically affiliated organization needs your help more.  Please donate $10 or more.  If you can’t give money try giving them a link and a spot in one of your post.

Happy Fathers Day! Thats right today was Fathers day. My post is a little late as I was spending time with me dad.

My most revet post have been off topic and I hope to return to my regular post soon but I wanted to take a minute to tell you about my dad.

My dad is fantastic. He is my hero. My father is the epitome of what a father should be. He has been there for me even before my consciousness was present. When I was born my dad got laid off in part because of the situation President Reagan caused. He was laid off for more than two years. That wasn’t going to stop him from providing for my family. My dad worked every odd job he possibly could. He even started a bust business with some fellow family that he ended up getting screwed in. He always made sure there was food on the table and his family had the best money could provide. He is the type of person that likes to do the work and doesn’t need recognition for it. He views it as his duty. Don’t tell him he did a good job. It is what a father is supposed to do. He is no Hollywood dad as those characters aren’t half the person he is.

He taught me values, built my character, and contributed to the person I am today. He instilled hard work values into me as he is as a union laborer. The rough hands from years of swinging hammers and fixing mechanices were really soft. Soft in the sense that his heart shined through when he touches, comforts, and consules you. His soft and careing demeanor have transfered to me. I hope one day the values I learned from you can one day transfer to my family. I hope to grow and become half the man you are. Dad, you are an incredible human being. A shining example of what a father is supposed to be. I love you and lok forward to the years ahead.

Dad,

As I grow older I realize that one day I may not get to always have you. I can’t imagine a world that we don’t coexsist in. As you know, I only know 1 on of my grandfathers that died almost 16 years ago now. I hope that my children get to learn from you what I have. If not rest assured that that the character you helped me grow to be will shine through. Again, Dad I love you with all of my heart.

Your son,

Chris Estes

It is official I am a twitter troll. But what makes me a twitter troll?

A while back I posted about twitter and how I was beginning to use it. As many plans with social media, I failed on my initial trial.

So what makes me a Troll? I always have the nifty Twhirl* twitter console/application open. I never update about what I am doing as I don’t think people are interested in what I am doing. I wish I was as entertaining as these characters. Brian Wallace post about everything, eating popcorn, going to the grocery store, and I bet he twitters in the Tub. Jennifer Laycock talks about what she is reading constantly. How can she be reading if she is Twittering? Kalena Jordan’s “bitch of the day” or latest ranting about who is messing with her in Australia are just out right entertaining. Then theres Matt Cutts’s posting about something that might as well be written in a secret hidden language only Nicolas Gage in Disney’s National Treasure can read.

My life isn’t interesting. I troll around the internet and read about others interesting lives. I haven’t found the greatest utility in Twitter but it is ever entertaining. It is like having a webcam view into the daily lives of ordinary people. The great thing I like about it is that spammers have not yet invaded me. Some of the basics of Twitter allow me to view only the people I want to anyway so I don’t have to worry about them.

So yes when I am on my computer my Twhirl app is open and I am watching you. I might not update often but you better believe I am lurking around.

* Twhirl is an application built around Adobe’s Air. For those of you who don’t know about Air yet you will. I have been watching Adobe Air for some time and super excited about the possibilities. It does have quite a few SEO problems but hey that makes life fun.

Content Management Systems, or CMS, are common place at an ever increasing pace. CMS systems are intended to manage large websites with a template and database. Not diving into a whole lot of technical jargon about CMS systems they are intended make life easier when managing a website. One of the most common, if not the most common, CMS system is WordPress.

WordPress is attractive for most people because of its cost. It’s Free! Being free and widely distributed makes it vulnerable to security breeches. Due to the constantly evolving risk for security vulnerabilities also means the constant stream of updates. With every update and tightening security means new code being inserted into your database and templates. With every update means new bugs. New bugs means more updates. Checking for updates has become part of my daily routine. The constant updating is time lost. The time isn’t so much the issue as the constant customization of code and re-customization of code. Every plugin and update brings in hours of coding. Why is that a problem? I’m not a programmer. I’m not a developer.

WordPress is an open source technology that is created by the community at-large. That means that some of the worlds best programmers and developers donate their time for only recognition in return. By the same token that means some of the worst 3rd rate programmers/developers are donating their time also. In most cases I am willing to bet that most of them are mediocre or at least inexperienced. I understand why so many of them would be willing to devote a considerable amount of time. For the great exposure and widespread visibility. Hasn’t everyone done that? As many of as rely upon wordpress being the best and with so many second rate people working the forums and code sections. I think a professional CMS system maybe in many of our futures. If a lot of money is on the line, 15 year old kids programming maybe effective but in most cases they lack the experience to develop for business.

I use WordPress for most all the site I own. Once upon a time the system worked for me flawlessly or atleast I remember it working that way. I have nothing but problems with it now. The constant change in plugins and updates has left a few of my sites riddled with errors or code that I did not intend to be there. On one of my website there is a plugin that is generating a commented out code that is being run by some backend function that pings another server which is leaching my post and publishing it as there own. I wouldn’t mind so much if they wanted to recive a ping when their plugin is being used but not for scrapping my content. I am tempted to run a local script that just constant pings and injects code into their server. But that is just vindictive. So instead I spend the time learning what they wrote and cutting out the parts I don’t need or ones transmitting to other sources I don’t trust. I put lots of time into my website and to keep it functioning correctly at peak performance in the back end so that the front end is nice clean and jumpin. But instead for a post to go out I spend 30 min writing and another hour fixing bugs. If you are a begining user you probably have no clue what most of the functions are going on in your application. Some of them could be hurting you.

Most day’s I like WordPress, but today I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. The bugs the incompadibilty of the free templates and plugins is killing me. I have hit a cross roads with them. I am considering a totally different CMS system, Now to find one that I can have control over and only uses the plugin and code that I want to appear. WordPress without plugins is vitrually nothing but a journal, For some sites that works. For me it does not. The paid CMS systems cost a lot and I am not willing to pay for one.

If you know of any good CMS systems around that would be worth while feel free to share them. I have tested droopal it just doen’t work for me. I have Ideas on how to create the perfect fail proof CMS System. That would be part re-inventing the wheel and someone willing to do it for free. So It looks like I may be with WordPress until my wish magically comes true.

Content Managment Systems are meant to make life easier. For me WordPress makes it worse. If it doesn’t get better I might just go back to hand filling php templates by hand. Though time consuming and defeats the usability of the greast sections of the Admin section. So because there is no easy answer to the CMS solution I will just have to learn to love wordpress again.

As indicated in my last posting about Helping Bloggers and Charity I talked about a guest post I wrote for a fellow blogger in need.

The post, entitled “Status Quo Blogging”, was about standard status quo blogging post. It is by far not a landmark post and serves as a working example of status quo blogging.

To read the post visit Social Desire, the blog “devoted to everything Social Media and Web 2.0.” You can view the post directly at “Status Quo Blogging“.