Category: Chronolog

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Reinventing the blog, part 2: The challenges, the opportunies

After the initial dissection of the most innovative and well designed blogs, it's time to go behind the scenes. We've seen how some of these blogs look like, but there's even more value in understanding why they look like they do. Every good user experience analysis needs to have a clear overview of the goals and good insight into the problems of the situation, and I will try to outline these by using my blog as an example. A lot can be deducted by monitoring the basic Google Analytics reports.

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written 13:42 CET on chronolog
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Note to self: when writing blog post titles, forget about SEO

A few days ago, I wrote a blog post about innovative blog designs and solutions that are emerging everywhere. I think it's a great post, it offers a very detailed overview of new fascinating concepts and features that are driven by new ways we consume content. But right before publishing, I've decided to change the post's title from "Dissecting the innovative blogs..." to "UX analysis of the innovative blogs...". I did this because I wanted to include "user experience" and "analysis" in the blog's title and url for better SEO performance, but this turned out to be a huge mistake.

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written 10:23 CET on chronolog
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I guess I'm a real blogger now

How glorious my previous week! My post about not stealing other people's ideas made it big time. It took me four years, but I finally managed to write something that was read by more than 10.000 different readers. Ok, there's still a long way to go before I'll reach Swizec's league, but I'm very happy about my evolution as a blogger. The amount of feedback I received this time was amazing, infinite comments on Hacker News and reddit, tweets from startup accelerators Wayra and HackFwd, there was a also a great post on Whiteboard that added an additional sixth reason to my original five. Great results. But what makes this post so important is the fact it's been amplified by all social media channels. Not a few, like my previous viral posts, but all of them. Which confirms I was spot on this time.

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written 9:28 CET on chronolog
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5 reasons why I won't steal your idea

Since I'm a software architect and a web developer, I get often approached by people with their new ideas. In most cases, for some quality feedback, and on lucky days, for a rough quote about the costs of such a project. These people are usually very secretive about what they have, making me explain to them that it's far from my interest to steal that idea. One time, a guy even made me sign a Non-disclosure agreement before I could make him an offer for a service he was thinking about. After bargaining with me, he chose a different contractor, but ended up doing nothing, at least to my knowledge. He was obviously focused on the wrong things, instead of getting feedback from as many sources as possible, he was investing energy into bureaucracy and protection of his idea. Let me tell something to him and all others out there: Focus on your product, and don't worry about me stealing your idea. I won't. I have at least five reasons not to.

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written 10:22 CET on chronolog
27901 views   •   4 likes   •   13 comments  •   Like   •   
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Using JSON (with asp.net) is like wiping your ass with silk

I love mashups. Actually, I love everything about them, I love using them, I love making them, I love those who do everything they can to empower them. In my opinion, mashups are one of the most significant concepts the Web has invented, since they represent unlimited possibilities of integrating and reshaping things that are already done. The platforms out there are stable, so it's the creativity that sets the limits. These days, you can easily take data from anyone and do something else with it. Just don't forget to use JSON.

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written 19:45 CET on chronolog
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Finally, a reason for bloggers to use Google+

Despite the traffic, there isn't that much going on on Google+, and the referrals from this social network are still not that numerous. Most of mine come from other sources, but Google has a plan, and this plan is a smart one - using their services to push forward other services. You've probably noticed more and more results in Google search contain the author's picture. They stand out from the rest, and since most bloggers want to get as much traffic to their site as possible, this fact can make a difference between which link is clicked or not. If you ask me, setting this up is a must, and it's really easy to do. But you need to have and pimp your Google+ profile.

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written 14:20 CET on chronolog
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Is it even possible to create original content in this age?

I've been blogging for more than three years now. And I love doing it, hell, I think my blog is pretty fucking awesome. But there's a problem I've been noticing lately. Every single piece of content I write has probably been written hundred times before. By mainstream media, by authors, by bloggers, by you. There's no way around it, and it bugs me to infinity. Take this specific post for instance, I won't even google it, but I can guess plenty of others writers have faced these thoughts and wrote about them from their own viewpoints. The irony of the situation is fantastic.

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written 12:52 CET on chronolog
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