Surprise Me!
May 30th, 2006 by Sarah KingWell not really, but a DP’er wanted to know how to pull a random link from a directory and direct her visitor there. Not my style of surfing but hey…
You can see Surprise Me working over at Top 100 vBulletin, just look down the menu on the left hand side.
Here’s the code Read the rest of this entry »
Will TradeMe Pay Me?
May 29th, 2006 by Sarah KingI run the website for the Waitakere BMX Club in New Zealand and one frequent question I get from new club members is “how do I get the gear?”
I point them to retailers, who are also generous sponsors, but TradeMe is also a very valuable source of second hand bikes and safety gear. So, it seems that TradeMe do quite well out of clubs like ours and there’s an opportunity for them to participate more with clubs and individuals.
I’d love to have a section where I could list all the BMX gear currently up for auction. They have a BMX category and I’d also be able to search on keywords for motocross clothes and helmets. It would be a great service to our members and also drive people into specific TradeMe auctions.
What’s more, I’d be giving them that exposure and I wouldn’t have to do a thing, just code the page and let it run. TradeMe would write cheques out for the club and everyone would be happy.
I’ve emailed them about this and haven’t heard back, nor have any insiders replied to my message on their messageboard. I won’t give up hope though, I’m sure they’ll see the value!
Useful Sites
May 28th, 2006 by Sarah KingI’m working on a new project at the moment, it’s an intranet type thing so no point in linking to it, but I’m using CakePHP and thats been really interesting. Definately RAD, supposedly simple but it’s got so many really good features that while it is simple, it can be hard to discover the genius.
For instance,
- $this->flash controls post save redirects, but doesn’t do the actual redirect if you have debugging turned on. You have to dig out the default template to know this though.
DigitalPoint remains the number one forum on the net, as far as I can see and I’ve recently been made a moderator. It actually changes the way I use the forum and it’s really very interesting.
Christian Mezei owns SEOPedia and a free directory WebXperience – and he has big plans for that. Read the rest of this entry »
More Shoemoney than the man himself!
May 25th, 2006 by Sarah KingJeremy Schoemaker aka Shoemoney is a hoot. He has a great blog and a series of forums and now he wants his name to be famous (watch for the trademark application 
) because our adoration obviously wasn’t enough.
He recently sent me some shirts from his company and I’ll be having a bit of fun with them over the next few months. Watch this space. I would have done it anyway but if he wants to follow up the shirts with cold, hard, cash who am I to stop him!
Christian from SEOPedia is giving it a whirl too.
NoFollow Nonsense
May 17th, 2006 by Sarah KingNoFollow was hailed as the saviour of our sites, the answer to comment spam, forum spam and poorly maintained sites.
The idea was that by adding the "rel" attribute to a link the search engines would know that the link isn't endorsed by the site.
HTML:
-
<a href='http://www.mysite.com/' rel='nofollow'>MySite</a>
The syntax isn't difficult and easy enough for a spammer to find, and walk away from.
Sadly, the spammers haven't caught on, and continue to employ unfortunates to do their dirty work, hoping that one day someone will see the light and spend some money on their ridiculous sites.
A spam filled site is a neglected site, one where the owner has had good intentions but not the time or inclination to follow through. The spam becomes a red flag to Joe Average that the site isn't maintained and to look further for the information sought. That the site will eventually be downgraded in the search engines is appropriate - it is after all, stale and abandoned. Read the rest of this entry »
Who said chicks don’t blog!
May 16th, 2006 by Sarah KingI stumbled across Jack of All Blogs today, in particular Move over boys, we are pimping out the blogosphere. Girls, it's worth a read! Are we quietly just getting on and doing our thing - or are we being walked over.
Now, I can't imagine the other SarahK, Summer or Andrea being walked over... nor Cathy Odgers (come back, we miss you!)
Cathy is quoted over at Kea Blog as saying: Read the rest of this entry »
Using a News Feed with Joomla and Mambo
May 14th, 2006 by Sarah KingIt's easy to add a newsfeed to a Mambo or Joomla website. The normal place for them is on the right hand column of a 3 column layout. In this example we're doing just that. Read the rest of this entry »
What Kiwis do with sheep
May 11th, 2006 by Sarah King
The Government have launched a new campaign that is aimed to bring Kiwis home.
These slogans (see above) are part of a $400,000 advertising campaign being launched by the Government in Australia today aimed at luring expat Kiwis home. [source: New Zealand Herald]
