I’ve been really busy lately with work, and working on my own pet projects, so I haven’t really had a chance to update my own website.
For the past month or so, I’ve been working on a design for it, but now that I have a few weeks free between school and work, I’ve been working on my new site, so it’s coming soon! 
Under only very rare circumstances should the web be self referencing.
For example, here are some bad examples:
Instead, use:
Why? If someone has gotten to your website, they obviously know how to use links. You don’t need to tell them that it’s a link or that you need to click it.
Links should never need to specified that they’re clickable. Use standardized styles - different colored or underlined words/phrases are links.
Who cares? Google does, for one. Google reads what the links say, and then classifies those terms with your link. For example, “Please visit Dan Leveille’s Photography and Design Portfolio.” When Google sees that link, it remember the terms “Dan, Leveille, Photography, Design, Portfolio” that are in reference to www.dan-lev.com. Now when someone searches “Photography potfolio,” Google will display www.dan-lev.com a tiny bit higher in the search results. A few links will obviously not make a difference, but keep doing it and you’ll see a difference.
This is why searching “failure” on google used to return the White House’s biography of George W. Bush as the first result. It’s called a Google bomb, because so many people linked the site using the verbiage “failure.”
Instead, use:
People know they’re on a website, or on the “product uses” page.
Never use “Welcome to”. People don’t need a welcome. Who cares? Google does. The terms in headings are very important in search engine optimization. No one needs a welcoming. What if they go from the contact page to the home page, they get welcomed again. That’s uneeded.
I just discovered the most amazing technology that I guarantee you all will be a search engine standard within a year or two. I was thinking “how can search engines get any better?” Well, since it’s been difficult to properly index audio and video files, maybe speech recognition software could index actual content of media files. Interestingly enough, a site called podzinger.com has already developed a technology to index video and audio files, including YouTube videos and podcasts.
This amazing new website allows users to search for text that is actually said in video and audio files. I guarantee Google’s been working on something similar for years, in some underground lab, perfecting it for release.
Go check it out. It’s crazy.
Well, I’ve been really researching and playing with search engine optimization (SEO) and dan-lev.com’s statistics. The website is doing much better (visitor-wise) than it was doing before the site went down in September.
Unfortunately I haven’t had much time for photography since I’ve been busy with school.
I have a new website that I’m really excited about. I bought the domain name, designed it, and programmed the majority of it. Before I finish, I just realized a legal/policy-type problem that I may have with running site. So I’m going to clear up everything in that department and then I should have it released. Unfortunately, this site is going to be only for a particular audience. Before I get too close to giving it away, I’m going to stop.
After 75 Days of Brainstorming, Designing, Programming, and Debugging, mixed with the start of a freshman year in college, I have finally completed version 2.0 of Dan Lev Designs & Photography. I’m really excited about this. First of all, I’m going to give a rundown of the new features & changes:
And that’s not all that’s changed! Be sure to check everything out! I’ve also added links on the bottom of every page to add the current page to your http://del.icio.us bookmarks. Del.icio.us is a website where you can submit, organize, and share your bookmarks with the world.
Please let me know if you have any questions or comments! I’d love to hear everyone’s feedback!
Every site undergoes development, and a lot of it comes from feedback from other people. I may look at the site and see it one way, and a you may look at it and see it another way. I mean this artistically, and literally. The site may show up different depending on your browser or operating system.
I’d like to give a thanks to Brian and Micheal who gave me some feedback on problems they encountered on the site.
If you have any suggestions, comments, complains, or experience any problems, please post them here, and include your browser name and I’ll do what I can to fix them.
Finally! The site is released. I’ve worked hours upon hours of programming each page and script, editing the images, and testing the site. I am really excited about it.
I hand-coded this site was from scratch. I used NO pre-made scripts or templates. Everything is SO much easier when a site is made using PHP! I now have admin panel where I can edit all the content of the pages, add new images, and track users and the traffic to and from the site.
I have this site going in two different directions: Personal and Business. I’m trying to make it as business like as I can, yet I’m thinking of making this a blog-type site as well. It’ll depend on how the business goes.
I’d just like to thank Paul for helping me with a small problem with the comments system.
Please help me improve this site! If you experience any problems, please send me an e-mail.
More Updates Coming Soon!
Blog powered by WordPress. (Blog RSS)
Copyright © 2009 Dan Leveille. All Rights Reserved.