Archive for the ‘search-engine-optimization’ tag
The Stoller Coaster
My last day at Oregon State University is going to be September 30th. I’ve been an academic advisor and web coordinator for the College of Health and Human Sciences (HHS) since 2007. It’s been a transformative experience. The advising team, college and university leadership, peer advisors, and my advisees have taught me so much. It has been a terrific adventure!
Speaking of adventures, you may be wondering what I’m going to be doing or where I am going…
When the “Blogger hits the big time” profile came out, I had already been thinking about my career, my future, and what I wanted to do:
During the day, Eric Stoller is busy advising students in the College of Health and Human Sciences and working on web projects for the college. In the evenings and on weekends, he’s juggling everything from consulting projects to blogging to chatting with his 1,900+ Twitter followers.
“Downtime? What’s that?” he laughs.
And these days, he’s added another job to that list of tasks, as a paid blogger for the highly popular academic website, Inside Higher Ed. As one of 13 regular bloggers for the site, Stoller has begun writing at least two blog posts per week, focused on student affairs and technology.
Working as an academic advisor / web coordinator during the day and engaging in numerous consulting / speaking engagements in the evenings and/or during my vacations has made my life feel like a roller coaster — twists, turns, dips, spins, etc…hence, the “Stoller Coaster.”
I have decided that I am going to focus my energies on my consulting/writing/speaking projects.
- I plan on attending Educause in October to promote my new Inside Higher Ed blog: Student Affairs and Technology.
- I will be participating via Skype in a technology and advising session at the NACADA Annual Conference.
- In November, I will be presenting a social media super session sponsored by Sodexo at the NACAS Annual Conference. In addition to my session, I am also going to be hosting small group consultations.
My consulting efforts are going to be focused on student affairs/higher education and technology:
- Social Media and Marketing
- Web Site Statistics
- Communication Plans
- Branding
- Search Engine Optimization
- Web Site Usability/Accessibility
- Higher Education Association Technology Development and Strategy
I am thrilled to start this new adventure. It’s going to be epic!
Credit for the “Stoller Coaster” – Conzen, 2010.
Link spammer targets higher education sites
I received the following comment on my blog a couple weeks ago:
“Yeah blogging is really a great way to help people. Great job. I salute you for doing such a great job.
”
The comment felt like it was spam. The post that was commented on was almost a year old and the comment seemed like it was just a way for the commenter to get their link on a blog post on blogging and academic advising.
As most of you know, I am an avid web statistics aficionado. The same day that the spammy comment was submitted (I moderate all new comments) I noticed two inbound referral links from a couple of Google Docs spreadsheets. My concerns that the comment was from a spammer were confirmed. In fact, I had stumbled upon two link spam documents that had been left open for anyone to see. A SEO company known as “Virtual Assistant” (link is to the Better Business Bureau listing…I love the irony!) was waging a concerted link spam campaign and my site had been “selected” for one of their spam comments.
I quickly saved copies of the link spam documents.
Google PageRank = 1
Google has apparently modified their PageRank algorithm. My site’s PageRank has dropped from a pleasant PR of 5 to a rookie year low of 1. One interesting part of the PageRank dip is that other sections of my site still have PageRanks of 2, 3, and 4.
In other techie news, one of my clients, AACRAO Consulting, has a PageRank that has increased from a PR of 0 (the effects of being brand new) to a PR of 5 (a number that I used to be fond of…).
Feel free to see if the PageRank change-o-rama has affected your site.
Bad news via Kottke.
Random Post 4/18/07
- Windy Blogs: WindMaker is amazing. It applies current wind conditions to a website: Here is my blog if it was outside in Columbus Junction, Iowa. via Kottke.
- The Edusphere: I came across a couple interesting comments while Googling my site:
Anonymous said…
I have no reason to think he’s a stalker, but I’ve been reading this guy’s blog lately; he’s one of the most dangerous leftists I’ve ever seen in the edusphere (and he may be supervising life on your campus one day):
Darren said…
He does like to talk about racism, doesn’t he? Also discrimination, race in general, and (my favorite!) social justice.
Nutjob.
Wow! What a compliment! I had no idea that I am “one of the most dangerous leftists..in the edusphere.” Although, to clarify, I don’t identify as a leftist.
- This American Life: I am addicted to the online archives of Chicago Public Radio’s This American Life.
- On Radar: My conversation with Radar has spanned 2 blogs, 2 states that start with the letter “O”, 1 state named Iowa, 2 higher education graduate programs, and more!
- Iowa: I will be in Iowa this weekend to attend the memorial service for my Grandma Katie. Emails, comment moderation, etc. will be on hold until I return.
Thanks for reading. Cheers!
Enrollment Management update 3/14/07
Admissions 2.0:
Dan and Blake will be facilitating a web conference in April (Tuesday, 4/24/07) entitled, “Getting Started with Search Engine Optimization in Admissions”
Admissions directors, enrollment managers, marketers, and web editors will leave this web conference with cost-effective ideas on how to make their admissions websites more search engine-friendly and easier for prospective students to find. Participants will explore principles of search engine optimization and web analytics and develop an understanding of how to use these tools to make informed decisions on the content and formatting of their admissions websites.
