seo | Croncast - Life is Show Prep

Bodega Cat, Instinct, On With Miserable

Wed, 02 Feb 2011 20:35:12 -0600

Episode: #709 | Length: 28:32 | Format: mp3

To listen to this and all new Croncast episodes Get Cool!

Without notes
I watch our SEO slip away
But surprise if it doesn't make more people listen!

Tags: betsy smith kris smith croncast bodega cat slow atm

Co-Host, Stiff Spine, With Bjorn

Sat, 13 Nov 2010 11:38:01 -0600

Episode: #690 | Length:29:42 | Format: mp3

To listen to this and all new Croncast episodes Get Cool!

Hmmmmm . . .
Something for SEO
I got nothing
This is a great episode

Tags: surgery fused spine with child betsy shilts

Structured Data: Follow-Up to Palegroove Blog Post

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:02:54 -0500

In the my previous post at Palegroove, "Improving your SEO with RSS in 3 easy steps," I shared some insight about how to setup your RSS feed URL's so that they are search engine friendly. After reading the post again, well, I missed explaining why search spiders like feeds so much. The answer is structured data.

PC Magazine defines structured data as, "Data that resides in fixed fields within a record or file. Relational databases and spreadsheets are examples of structured data. Contrast with unstructured data." I'm sure a future revised version will include XML or RSS ;-).

When your content is placed into feeds it has the benefit of being described by a template - structured data. It is described by elements in the feed the same as mine, CNN.com, Apple, Microsoft or anyone else with a RSS feed. RSS is the ubiquitous, defacto standard for syndication. The simplicity of RSS as a standard to describe your content's title, description, dates, content, enclosures, etc makes it a magic API for search engines, developers and database administrators. Your website doesn't do this. It is full of unstructured data.

On your site the post titles could be in a h1-6 tag, div or a legacy table cell with a style applied to it. This makes it harder for search engines to understand your content. Sure, there are insanely engineered algorithms that are in place to create associations between the content on your site and the code that is used to display it, but RSS makes it uniform and much easier for search companies to cache, categorize, rank and re-syndicate your ideas. The primary reason is that the feed describes the data types instead ot telling a browser how to display it.

So, like I said in the last post, "Treat your feeds with the same care that you do your pages," with the caveat that maybe you need to treat them better because the next iteration of the web is being built on structured data.

Tags: RSS SEO structured data feeds seo

Season 20 Ep 17: The Mc Mansion Haul, Rottlador, Schnorgie

Mon, 19 May 2008 15:16:40 -0500

Croncast - 2008-05-19.mp3
Show: #492
Length: 17.5
Size: 25:32 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2008 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

Short show notes
Sorry for the no show on Friday
Betsy scores at a Mc Mansion
Well, I'm not sure the lamp above is a score, but . . .
Gucci the schnorgie (Schnauzer and Corgi cross)
Betsy and Jeanie in San Francisco starting tomorrow
Hang with them on Wednesday, see the link about for House of Shields get together

Tags: Mc Mansion schnorgie rottlador san francisco

Season 20 Ep 16: Sellers Hate Hoarders, not the Game, Golf Stance

Wed, 14 May 2008 07:20:58 -0500

Croncast - 2008-05-14.mp3
Show: #491
Length: 19.7
Size: 28:40 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2008 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

Betsy "Classified Ads" Smith
That is your new name
You're like silly putty
Let me see your palm
I guarantee that their is an ad transfered to it
Did I see a Happy Mother's Day Classified ad?
Nope
Did I sleep on a floor for you?
Mr B I am going to kick your ass
I don't want to hit golf balls
Then I win by default
You are very competitive
My brilliant delightful wife made it rain golf balls
I thought it would be like a coffee machine
I wanted a cute paper basket with a handle
The second of the idiots is now here
They should put up a sign
There was a sign I am sure
Based on how you played it should be bright pink
You are so full of crap
I couldn't put my arms around you
Resting in your schwetty palms
A boy at the disco
You missed the ball completely
Then I got it dialed in
I was the winner no doubt
The driving range isn't on my to do list
If you had one we would have been doing the next
I am a bald man, I don't need to be sleeping on carpet
The divets on my head were too much
I won't make you sleep on the floor
Call you Betsy "Lemon Juice" Smith
This is my super bowl weekend
Where is the sale this weekend?
Bears, 23 consorted sub divisions all at once
They have a consortium of sub divisions?
Yes
Betsy now reads the classifieds
Leaving your boxes on the driveway
Somebody is going to steal them
UPS picked them up
Are you sure?
What are the rules?
You show up first and the item is your's
They might share a bag Gardetto's
You have done this to her
Bird Lady I am going to get you
I am going to walk around with

Tags: silly putty classified ads sub division consortium

Season 20 Ep 15: Dumpster Golf, Penny Drop, Fancy Hood

Mon, 12 May 2008 13:54:32 -0500

Croncast - 2008-05-12.mp3
Show: #490
Length: 19.6
Size: 28:32 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2008 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

Betsy likes the amens to her sermons
Now they can tell me to mow my lawn
We are way more boring than the show
The picture in her head of you was repulsive
Good thing she didn't see a real picture
I despise this time of year the most
Why?
The grass grows
I hate the mowing
Pulling back that shade for bits of sunlights
I am the Boo Radley of the neighborhood
I have been honing my skills without you
Something new to the Resale Queen toolbox
Not the Billy Squire stroke
A body bag full of bubble wrap
A body bag?
I tried to do a Penny Drop
That was for those of you that too kindergarten gymnastics
Tetanus shot for junking license
I had to have the bubble wrap
So I went to Goodwill
Fast like a bunny
I bought a Titleist
Golf club
We playing gold today mommy?
Yes, Maggie, dumpster golf
Your Titleist for dumpster diving
Your like a gorilla in the mist
Your people were the strain that hung on the jungle floor
Mine were smarter and more motivated
Now, I bring home the bananas
It's all about who brings home the bacon
I am forever grateful that you make enough for me to dig in a dumpster
We found your wife, sir.
Behind what store?
It could be worse, I could be a scrap booker
It is a services
I'm not going to mess with these women
They are serious
Treating things better
Betsy flattens a tire on my car
I'm driving slow on your rim
You were right next to the car dealership
Why didn't you just go there?
You used to recruit truck drivers, you talk to him
Sorry to be so vaginal
I just gave up
Why is he trying to change the tire?
Does he know how to change a tire?
Yeah, that's a lot of money for a fancy hood
They say that to a lot of women who get labia surgery too

Tags: Titleist gold club the bacon penny drop gymnastics

Season 20 Ep 14: Hoe To The Head, Classmates, Comments

Fri, 09 May 2008 12:15:46 -0500

Croncast - 2008-05-09.mp3
Show: #489
Length: 20.5
Size: 29:52 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2008 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

Gotta rock it out people, sorry again for short show notes
Thanks for the comments of late
They do mean a lot to me
Elliot taking one on the head
Life coming back
Former classmates
Spoiled doesn't mean success in life

Tags: gardening classmates landing strip emergency room staples

Season 20 Ep 13: Episode 13? No wonder.

Wed, 07 May 2008 16:35:26 -0500

Croncast - 2008-05-07.mp3
Show: #488
Length: 10:45
Size: 7.41 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2008 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

Short short show
Not much else to say.
Some laughs await but we return you to your regularly scheduled life sooner than normal.

Tags: iPhone croncast late show betsy hut

Season 20 Ep 12: New Hag, Betsy in Boystown, Cut to the Chase

Mon, 05 May 2008 13:05:52 -0500

Croncast - 2008-05-05.mp3
Show: #487
Length: 29:40
Size: 20.4 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2008 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

Cinco de Mayo
The drink comments spilled over
Work with me
Comment on the proper post and subject
You should be embarrassed to drink that in front of other people
It's a weird girly drink
If it's the only drink you are going to drink for the night
One tumbler
You just took the story to a whole new level
Oh, bears
I feel really good about closing out Croncast and moving on
There are legal concerns with letting listeners choose
Everything is an impeding legal issue
I can't even say v$deo pr0fe$$or anymore
My sister wanted to come to Karl's with me
Your sister needs to cut to the chase
You can thank me later when you wake up in your own vomit
Sometimes threesomes are weird
Half the audience just said, "Why, yes they are"
Not that kind!
My friend is super
Maybe they were looking for a new hag
Did you wear open toe shoes?
That might have confused him
Becoming a stripper at 33
That is wrong
It is time to retire at 33 for most strippers
You have a glamorous view of strippers
You are nuts
There is nothing glamorous about stripping as a career
I don't dread these things
What you can and can't comment on

Tags: Chicago girly drink new hag boystown careers

Season 20 Ep 11: Eyeless dolls, Bolex at Goodwill, How did you know?

Fri, 02 May 2008 11:20:55 -0500

Croncast - 2008-05-02.mp3
Show: #486
Length: 31:00
Size: 21.3 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2008 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

Short show notes, sorry
The greatest goodwill find of all time
Sure it is
So was the Kirby vacuum
It's a Bolex Video Camera
Spooky stuff on this show
"How did you know?"
I can see you there with two hand fulls of dirt
What about the eyeless dolls?

Tags: Bolex video camera Kirby Vacuum eyeless dolls spooky

Season 20 Ep 10: Transvestite Mennonite, MC Hammer, Baby Spiders

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:58:26 -0500

Croncast - 2008-04-30.mp3
Show: #485
Length: 28:03
Size: 19.8 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2008 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

I pulled a muscle in my back
My spider bites
It's a back wall injury
Like in the Mist
Where the privileged people are
At the Intercontinental hotel
I ordered my drink
You need to try it
Jaegermeister and Bailey's?
It makes me want to cover my ears
How much do they charge for that?
It depends
The bartender appeared to be a Stanford math major
How much do you want?
Top it off on the rocks, half Jaeger and half Bailey's
Well, we pour in ounces
I don't care what pour, just fill it up
When have you counted
You are an asshole
I'm not an asshole
How many ounces would you like?
What kind of question is that?
I would have turned you into a zombie
Was $30 a drink
Puffy Cuffs to a whole new level
She had already poured them
A mixer usually has small amount of alcohol
They should charge normally
I need to carry my own stuff
Buy a mixer full of ice to mix my own
You pay for the atmosphere
But most have to leave early to get to a meeting
$30 bucks a drink you better get some atmosphere
Turns out MC Hammer was hanging in the lobby
I missed it
I was three feet from him
He looked nothing like I would have expected
Taller than I thought
They have small man complex and work harder
Shaped like a potato these days
He would have showed all of his potato parts
He has an internet startup
It's like youtube but with dance videos
There's a new character on the scene at Goodwill
Who is it?
I don't know his/her name
What?
It is a Transvestite Mennonite
I had awkward pause seeking gender
I blanked
I needed to know boy or girl to return communication
You should do a back bend

Tags: MC Hammer the mist transvestite mennonite spider bite jaegermeister and bailey's

Season 20 Ep 9: Improv Betsy, Four Seasons Alley, Run Kris, Run

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:10:44 -0500

Croncast - 2008-04-28.mp3
Show: #484
Length: 31:49
Size: 21.8 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2008 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

This is a great show, filled with drama, suspense, horror and . . . Kris lacking any common sense.

Nada on the show notes as Monday is getting very busy already. But like the last time, loud shout out to anyone who throws down and sends them in.

Tags: San Francisco homeless walgreens flashing lights witching hour

Season 20 Ep 8: Husband in the Bubble, Carbon Dioxide Vampires, Nock

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:14:07 -0500

Croncast - 2008-04-21.mp3
Show: #483
Length: 38:15
Size: 26.3 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2008 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

One day to Earth Day
Elliot has been telling me about the poor suffering pandas for ten days
He was telling me the acid rain was burning the pandas
Which was causing them not to have babies
He asked me if I knew what trees were
He's so much like his mom
He says, "Trees are carbon dioxide vampires"
I told him that would be a great band name
He didn't get it
Two worlds collided
You bought this badminton set at Goodwill
At a garage sale
Well, it came from out of the house
Husband in a bubble
Whatever you had taught him was wrong
Proper badminton form
Let me show you
What? What you learned at La Moille badminton school?
I can't believe you tried to describe this
What the hell are you talking about?
Your boy cannot do overheard
Oh, baby
I won't even listen to you and your un-athletic skills
It's good he's not you, Kris
He just doesn't get it as I am trying to help him
You're a like a lion in the grass
Look at that birdie fly
He can't hit it back and forth
I wanted to work with him
And you wonder why he doesn't want to play with you
You are a weird nerd jock hybrid
You're a NOCK
He'll have flash backs
Badminton is where business gets done
Watching his badminton future crumbles before my eyes
Don't send the hate mail
I get it
I need to engage with him on another level
He's going through a growth spurt
He's 7 asking if the weather is changing
Sensitive to barometric pressure
Taking the kids to lunch
Ted's Montana Grill
Ted's Buffalo Hut
There is nothing more environmentally friendly than buffalo farming
What are you saying? Twice as much methane
Maggie is all about it
Elliot looks at Ted's Bison Hut
Looks left and says, I just want Subway
"I won't get a bag of chips with my burger"
Wanted to do something a bit special
He says, "Dad, I don't like fancy. I like Goodwill and Subway."
Half the time he is working on bits
What's 10 minus 8?
I think you owe me $2, Mom
I get to the foreclosure/divorce house
Ring the door bell
The laundry basket was longaberger
It was like you designed the house
There was a beautiful chandelier in his bathroom
He wanted $1,800 for it
Then he says, "I paid $23,000 for it."
They make excellent copies of this at Menards
Then, Mr B, there it was
I became the sucker
Do you like the table?
It happens
How much do you want for the table?
Well . . .
I paid $12,000 for it
This is a garage sale
The table turned to fire when he told $2,300
Can you grab me something out of that crystal wine in the box holder
It was so McMansion
It was like he was trying to get on Cribs and it didn't work out
Same outfit as yesterday
Because he is single now

Tags: Longaberger suffering pandas acid rain Ted's Montana Grill McMansion

Season 20 Ep 7: Koi Pond of Death, Kipp, Horticulture Authority

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:01:19 -0500

Croncast - 2008-04-18.mp3
Show: #482
Length: 26:40
Size: 18.3 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2007 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

Kris is all business all the time
I am business baby even when I sleep
You're on Twitter 24/7
I was dreaming about API's
That is why I slept through the earthquake
Why you should be like me
Fifth graders would listen
It is like dreaming about math
What parent wouldn't say, "I would like my kid dreaming about math"
You can't negative criticism
The survey we ran for one year
The likes and dislikes are finally available
It's not that
"He laughs at nothing"
The laugh is used to fill in the gaps
Go back and listen to the first few shows with gaps
No one is addicted to your laugh
I say addicted to laughing in general
It is good for you
Adam Curry released some demographic data
So with that I will release all survey that we did later today
STICKERS - first 10 people to send me their address from the contact page
GET - a sticker
Swearing was a thing we did a lot of
We've gone through iterations
Your mom draining her tub
My options were here or next to the sump pump
The outdoor work began around here
Anything I try to do never works
We know this Betsy
The neighbor's chemically altered grass
The grass is smart it knows not even to cross property line
Raised timber bed
Longtime listeners might remember the coi pond
The koi pond of death
I hire them to clean up the yard, remove some timbers and edge my mulch
People that run their own business have psychological problems
They do it because they can't get a normal job
Anybody can be a landscaper
Kipp's Lawn Repair
Kipp is name of death
Just says drug habit
I ask him for a quote
He's a horticulture authority
You could sell his rotten lumber
ReplacementDeckParts.com
That should be your next business
Green has become a scam in many ways
AAA1 Steve
Are you bonded?
Yes, I've posted bond before
Oh, no
That sort of happened with the Comcast guy
He'd done time
Or as he said, "I did a bit"
He hadn't seen his kids in years
That TV would fit right out that window
I got my eye on them
I don't trust them ever
Betsy is soo like Daniel Day-Louis in There Will Be Blood
Upton Sinclair wrote the book just for you
Would you quit junking for $1 million?
I couldn't do it
That would only last you 3-4 months, Kris
Right, 50ould go to the divorce
Banking where you used to live
You mail stuff to your bank?
Well, it's an hour long drive

Tags: Koi Fish croncast stickers horticulture authority Upton Sinclair Daniel Day-Louis

Season 20 Ep 6: Yesterday was tax day?

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 19:03:01 -0500

Croncast - 2008-04-16.mp3
Show: #481
Length: 25:10
Size: 17.3 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2007 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

Sorry for the late show . . . long day. Now I gotta put the kids to bed.

Enjoy the show!

Updated show notes
I think the people know what year it is
I am your enabler, Kris
Your workaholism is what i enable
The day after tax day
Didn't you see me freaking out?
Not really . . . you kept saying we have to file an extension
Taxes should be due on a Friday
Not a Tuesday
It should be a floating holiday?
Yes
This is the first year in 3 years we don't owe the IRS any money
I will never understand the IRS ever
Co-owner of a company that lost quite a bit of money
Listen, Rush Limbaugh
How can my company lose money and the feds give me money back?
The tax code is crazy
The other fabulous thing today
It felt like a tele-novela
I got to Goodwill and they were throwing someone out
It was the first time ever
He is the reason we can't pick off carts
I walked up to the china
It was sparkling at me
Get the order and buy service for 12
$20 a plate and $12 for the salad plates
Well, you weren't tossed out
Who would be pulling in as I leave?
Another Replacements.com seller
When did this lady show up?
She is a new Goodwill character
I thought this was just the Russian chick
No, she is diminutive
You're a junk consultant
I can tell you when I am 13

Tags: iphone att Betsy Smith Croncast Kris Smith

Season 20 Ep 5: El Camino, Cafe Krisay, Tell All Your Friends

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:46:38 -0500

Croncast - 2008-04-17.mp3
Show: #480
Length: 32:24
Size: 22.3 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2007 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

Short ones this time
Before you even open your trap, Betsy
And clean the lint from yours
Nice tight and concise . . .
Here is what happens with Croncast at 500
When they put the B before the K
Doesn't sound right to me
We are going to re-brand the show
And move to one day a week . . .
But, BUT, you the listener could get it up to two or even three days
Do tell, Kris
Do you remember "Tell a Friend Friday"?
Evo told tons of people
So for the next 20 shows you need to tell all of your people to listen to Croncast
At 500 shows if we double audience size we will go to two days a week
At 500 shows if we have tripled the audience size we will do three days a week
So you've got to get to it
Hopefully it will spread like herpes, Kris
The El Camino is coming back
I want a truck minivan combo
They are missing the boat
Poor customers service
Smoke starts coming out of holes where espresso is supposed to come out
I inhale deeply the scent of burnt coffee and plastic
How not to buy a hermit crab

Tags: espresso machine hermit crab el camino tyf

Season 20 Ep 4: 11 Days, Drew Peterson, Elevator Pitch

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:34:53 -0500

Croncast - 2008-04-11.mp3
Show: #479
Length: 26:37
Size: 18.3 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2007 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

I is swamped my people. Show notes take another on the chin. If anyone has the time to put some show notes together for this episode feel free to and send them on I'll put them in here and give you a huge shout out, like, where I say your name loudly.

Shout out goes to BigJon - super player and show note maker

Show Notes:
Croncast intro
11 more days to Earth Day
Dry crocodile skin
Welding company hand model
Cooking show video
No wrist bones
Fitness routine
Armchair critic
Addiction to nitrates
Living ex-pat life
Aversion to guns
Comments on moving
House hunting in SF
Good schools and Thrifty Republicans
Drew Peterson on Larry King
Looking in the woods near us
Stacey Peterson signs
Police officer son
We got 911!
Baloney sandwiches with mayo
Year of guys in our area to murder their wives
Divorce reasons
Big insurance policy
Follow the news trucks
Scumbag
Watersealing basements
A-Town van, one eye, mullet, and prison tats
Would have given him a shot
Don\'t marry that guy
Heavily medicated shoe salesman
Temper tantrums
Who liked him?
Panic attack
Other perspectives
Missing a leg...last shot
I won
Wow, he looked me in the eye!
Garage saling
Un-employed babysitter
30 garage sales
Love garage sales by default
Kris must love you
Horrible at math
No more baby shit
Garage sale notes
Legalized gambling
Know your people
Capri Sun + Toddlers
Melting down silverware
The gay doctor
Crap in the dining room
Barb and daughter china junker service
Croncast outro
Coming to an end...

Tags: iPod Bolingbrook best laugh elevator pitch share croncast

Season 20 Ep 3: Expectations, Moving to Nicaragua, Venus Flytrap

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:35:13 -0500

Croncast - 2008-04-09.mp3
Show: #478
Length: 28:01
Size: 19.2 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2007 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: 6:30 p.m., stop and have a drink or two!

The cough has subsided
Talk of the vacation Jeanie
Did you brush the baby's hair?
How about a coat?
I need to show up and take care of this stuff
What kind of planning are you talking about?
You will be tourists
I don't like to travel and feel like a tourist
Hopping on and off the bus
You will organize your trip for junk
You won't be able to bring junk home
What are you talking about?
I will be FedEx'ing that stuff
I have a funny box story for you
I went to a new Kinkos
They weren't my people
She says, "Do you work at Alta?"
What is Alta?
You were missing the clear plastic purse
The retail mistrust of employees
I can't imagine working in retail the rest of my life
Did my bit
Then she gets it
The light went on, she realized I was a dumpster diver
Sustainability 101
I choose to do this
Did you come to college to find a wife?
I knew I was going to marry you
It was one of those things
Thinking about moving
It will not be Nicaragua, Mr. B
Covered in yesterday's pot pie

Tags: Alta FedEx pot pies clear plastic purse Aurelex Foam

Season 20 Ep 2: Tijuana Jellies, Rent a Goat, Living Through Kids

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:27:16 -0500

Croncast - 2008-04-07.mp3
Show: #477
Length: 33:02
Size: 22.7 mb
Format: mp3

Show us some love and leave us a review at iTunes

Special note: Betsy and Jeanie are having a meetup in San Francisco May 21, 2007 at House of Shields 39 New Montgomery St., Time: TBD. Stop by and buy them a drink or two!

It's like having naked people on web site
Sure, it is nerd porn
If you had a math site
You could put up a really hot formula
Don't open your eyes it will make it real
Big weekend and Betsy alone time
I found out alone time is overrated
I love the kids but I didn't miss them
Normally when I am alone, I am with Vicky
That means you are not alone
You guys spend too much time together
Something like that
Betsy you watch Vicky
Security has your picture up on the wall
Did I ever tell you about Vicky almost being kidnapped?
No, you never have
But it explains a lot about your relationship
Vicky is going to get a goat if she moves to Virginia
That's is like having a girlfriend in Canada
"I have a goat in Virginia"
Rent a goat
Yeah, they call them petting zoos
I just want a goat petting zoo
Tell me about the kidnapping story
Was my mom baby sitting you?
Vicky was in the cart
I was cramped and pushed in underneath
I looked like a giraffe in a VW
She is 2 1/2 and you are 7 1/2
This woman grabs Vicky
But she is stuck
You know how kids get stuck in carts
Sure maneuvering them out
She was panicking and pulling
My mom lost her mind
What are you doing the whole time
I was like whatever
The woman runs out of the store
My mom's first reaction was to yell at me
Not call the cops
I gotta sit down so low to see the cereal
I don't know what it is
Get the hell over it
You are crazy
Your sister must think once a week what my life would have been like
Divorced with two kids
Lifetime movie moments
Jesus Christ, you look like a victim, suck it up
Mom picks up Vicky and says, "Run!"
I lied about my size them
It was expensive in California
I had to wear Jelly shoes 3 sizes to small
I begged my mom at a dollar store
Sure your Tijuana Jelly Sandals
There are times when you can't afford shit
Standing in line at the Louisiana post office
So for Christmas they shipped me chameleons in a box
They arrived not alive

Tags: Jelly Shoes Mexico rent a goat parental reaction pup pup

What good are 3 hits from Google search results?

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:56:11 -0600

I can tell you. It all depends on what people are searching for.

Painfully obvious, right?

Well, not so much when someone searches at Google for intitle:"chocolate" ext:rss. The odds are astronomically high that even chocolate experts weren't even returned as results. See for yourself.

So what does this mean? It means that someone searched Google for a RSS feed (ext:rss) with the word chocolate in the title (intitle:"chocolate").

Yes, the search is more advanced than a keyword or phrase based search but that isn't my full point. The reason that it matters is that not only did this individual search for chocolate but also culture and abba. Not quite sure what it says about the person searching for those topics . . .

So for me, these three hits matter. They are three more than I would have normally received for those topics and a chance for me to get them to possibly subscribe to those feeds, subscribe to my podcast, click an ad (yes, I like money) or get my brand in front of them.

I am able to do this with keyword feeds that I create dynamically from posts that get the same SEO treatment that a normal webpage would get.

The other plus for this type of search is the fact that they return so few results and Croncast happens to be ranked #1 for most of them including searches like, say . . . "CNN" or "Micorsoft" or "iTunes".

I've had conversations with a friend, Rick Klau, about RSS feeds being indexed in Google search results. Most of those discussions focused on my saying that feeds should show up in search results and Rick saying that they shouldn't.

My stance is that some people, like myself, benefit from these results the same way that we benefit from a normal click through to our sites. I am able to do this by checking where the individual who clicked through is coming from and displaying a web page instead of the RSS with the exact same data that was in the feed.

But I don't stop there. I also make sure to let the user know how they got to the page and that they can now subscribe to that feed. It's a soft landing for what traditionally has been a hard look at XML or ugly feed displays in browsers. Which is where you will end up with 99.9 out of 100 feeds if you click through them when returned in a search.

What is Rick's position? If 99.9 are bad then they should be removed. For the time being I will agree that he is right. But that doesn't mean that this is the way it always has to be.

A couple of things could change this:

1) The uptake of RSS since IE7 and and FireFox now display their own XSLT to prettify the XML. Sort of like FeedBurner does.
2) Publishers add their own XSLT for their feeds
3) Publishers using blogs, most of which are dynamically generated, are written with code that can check for referers like Goolge, Live and Yahoo and redirect the user to a page that has the same content as the feed
4) My favorite. Google could create their own XSLT document that loads the feed into it.

Maybe that was more than a couple but I believe there are a lot of ways to welcome feeds into indexed search results beyond having to type in a search like intitle:"Google" ext:rss.

By the way, I'm not number one on this one Google is with it's YouTube property.

Next up, how to create RSS feeds with keywords in the title, how to get the .rss extension added to your feeds and landing pages for feeds.

Tags: RSS search page rank Google search RSS XSLT FeedBurner

quiet around here - via twitter

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 18:10:21 -0500

work is killing me. we have a ton of stuff going on. couple growth and new visions you get culture stew.

Tags: castlock rss seo

And you're a giant nerd.

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:51:23 -0500

Scott appears to be correct.

He sent me an email yesterday to say that he and Pete had a conversation about something. Which evidently happens on occasion. From the email and attached screen shot I deduced that the discussion was about Google indexing RSS feeds and linking directly to them and how that sucks. 'Cause it does.

Don't get me wrong I love Google for indexing feeds. Seriously, it rocks. They are leading in this area.

Let me show you what's going on:

1. Scott searches at Google for an awesome party in Chicago called "The Deaf Chicago Party" (remind me to ask him about this) and the first result is Croncast.

The first thing to pay attention to in this image to pay attention to is the green URL - http://www.croncast.com/keyrss/Chicago party.rss. Yep, it's a RSS feed and not a web page. To which I say, "right on." However, 99.9 times out of 100 when when someone clicks through and RSS link in Google they get a face full of XML or an ugly feed. Click the link above to see.

2. Scott clicked on my link to the RSS from Google and and something magical happened. See the screen shot that he sent me:

He ended up at my site not looking at a bunch of XML or having his browser ask him if he wants to subscribe to my feed. He was taken directly to a page within my site that has relevant posts from our podcast and blog for the topic he was looking for . . . maybe, probably not really since I don't know what 'The Deaf Chicago Party' is. And, apparently, Google doesn't either. Let's just call it serendipity.

The summary to my detective work can be boiled down to what I figured out a few months ago:

1. Google loves RSS feeds filled with new stuff
2. I love RSS feeds filled with my new and old stuff
3. People like information on topics of interest
4. I created RSS feeds by post tag but also allow them to be created by readers/listeners dynamically (see #3)
5. I did some quick SEO on these feeds to make their titles and descriptions relevant to topic
6. Finally, I coded the feeds to check if user was coming from Google or other search engines
7. Google sends bot and indexes said feeds
8. Someone searches at Google for a topic like "tijuana vasectomy" - just got a hit for it yesterday
9. That someone clicks the link and ends up at site with the exact same items in it that were in the RSS feed without all the feed related hassle

It's not a perfect system but one that I think is way more acceptable to a user than clicking a link in a search engine and getting put into a feed. In many cases being dumped into a feed isn't going to get you to the content you wanted anyway because it has been pushed out by newer items. When I put someone into my site from a feed result in a search engine they then have the ability to find their topic right there. If not, they an internal site search that will find what they are after. The coolest part to me about it is that once they have made it to the site I then offer them the feed for their topic, just in case this is truly what they were after.

Tags: giant nerd google rss keyword rss feeds dynamic rss tijuana vasectomy

Twitter meet Castlock, Castlock meet Twitter

Tue, 08 May 2007 08:48:17 -0500

Yesterday was a crazy day so I didn't get to make a post about hacking together a script to dump my twitter posts into castlock (the underpinnings of this site).

The entire reason for doing it was to have the ability to blog on the run from my phone by sending a text message to twitter and getting it into the blog without having to open the castlock control panel.

The fun part was thinking up a format for the tweets that when the script reads them it can distinguish between a tweet for blog and a tweet for tweets sake. The format looks like this:

title*blog body for post.*keyword1-keyword2-keyword3

The php script splits the tweet at the *'s and then at the -'s to format it for the castlock insert.

There were a couple small bugs that took a while to iron out. The first was that the timestamp from twitter is 5 hours ahead of my servers time zone (not very conducive to keeping posts in order) and getting the cron to run right on the script.

But it's all good now and every 5 minutes the script runs looking for little tweets to put in it the Croncast belly.

Tags: tweet twitter integration castlock Croncast twitter keywords for seo

Hella code day

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 21:59:08 -0500

I spent the bulk of my free time today knocking out code on the site.

Things were just clicking today for some reason and I couldn't let it go. I think it is easier than ever to get to all the content in the site.

Maybe it's the Grinderman?

comments RSS feed and respective page
cleaned up all feeds and urls to make them more human readable - for example www.croncast.com/all.rss instead of www.croncast.com/feedbuffet/all/feed.php
setting feeds that are indexed by search engines to redirect to the internal Croncast search page if they are clicked from google, yahoo, aol and others (this is a big deal since many of the people clicking these links have no clue what rss is especially porno seekers. example page 3 of these google results search for "spice channel" resullt 21 is a keyword feed . . . copy the url and add it to your reader and it works no problem, click it and it will take you to the same results as the feed but only at the website, nice)
added the unique feed to the internal search results for those who have been referred by a search engine
added the unique feed to the internal search results for regular users button looks like this - example Kris Smith
created new includes for blog, podcast, news and all content archives so they can plug and play on any page
re-ordered the navigation
created a two new archive pages - one for navigation of all content with pseudo categories and the other as a master archive of shows by month
edited internal search results page to recognize when referrer is a search engine to display a message that explains what Croncast
added another adwords box to the search results after item 7 in the returned results
tons of other mundane stuff for tracking keyword feeds and referrers

Up for tomorrow

new rss page
moderated media rss (mmrss) creation tool, for listeners (it's going to be sick)
new contact page
new "people say" section for listeners to leave reviews
new db table to hold mobile browsers to redirect for rss

Tags: croncast mmRSS rss archives keyword rss feed rss seo rss redirect

Betsy and her husband Kris Nov 05, 2006

Sun, 05 Nov 2006 10:09:11 -0600

Croncast - 2006-11-05.mp3

Show: #295
Length: 22:32
Size: 15.4mb
Format: mp3

Betsy and her husband Kris November 05, 2006

Keep on leaving the comments
Comments even about the dairysnake
Betsy says it is time to return the dairysnake to QVC
Women in depends trying on elastic pants and deciding it's not roomy enough and the QVC customer service
"I bet the QVC return warehouse smells like old people. I love QVC don't get me wrong."
Zeus is upset that the dairsysnake is going back
No Falcon Bird . . . TailorByrd, baby
Did I get it right
Paisley pearl snap TailorByrd
It might be athletic fit but you'll have to girdle it in
Golden paisley pearl snap for the man now
Unless Kohls super Saturday is the trend . . .
You better drink your stupid soda
It's not a middle of winter shirt
Easter egg puffy cuff in other colors
The closeout TailorByrd shirts . . . very of the moment
They are like the 70's zip up boot
Your dad was pretty styling I'm sure
Wrinkle cream at 29
I know, I know, I know Kris
Could have gotten the merchandise credit but opted for cash back on your card
Maybe QVC will start selling carpet soon
Oh, my god. The dog ate his leash again
Kris is dog agnostic
Booba wants a running suit with a small amount of leopard print
Betsy's friend said nothing
Aluminum foil in with the hamsters
They didn't make it
Betsy is clairvoyant and reads my mind
I buried him in a box that I made in bible school
Everyone's going to bible school
Kris tells the dog to go away very calmly
What is that smell?
He peed on me
Can't start off by saying "scam"
The loose smelly dog
Betsy calls it my bad dog karma
Next show . . . when Kris was bitten by a dog

1) Fill out the appropriate form for you - *New* Listener or Get a Handle (current listener)
2) Verify your email address (Activates and qualifies those with a "Handle")
3) *New* listeners get activated and qualified by using their special RSS feed
4) 300th new listener and the person whose Handle they use win iPods AND
5) A drawing for 2 more iPods from everyone who entered!

Tags: QVC TailorByrd Zeus urine dairysnake bible school