GoBackpacking

WordPress Plugins

I only installed one plugin this week, however it’s a great one! Previously, I received a comment from a reader who suggested the importance of making changes that enhance communication between me and those reading, and vice versa. I’ve kept this design theme in mind the past two months.

Brians Threaded Comments 1.5.9 - I first noticed this plugin in action on John Chow dot Com as it is one of his 16 recommend plugins.  Since installing, I’ve found it much easier to share my comments with individuals when there are multiple comments left on a single post.  See it in action on My Top 5 Most Hilarious Travel Photos post. On the downside, like so many of my coolest plugins, Internet Explorer 6 doesn’t seem to like it. Maybe it’s my theme. At any rate, I apologize to the 25% of visitors who use IE 6 should your experience be difficult, and humbly suggest you upgrade to Firefox or IE 7 for better browsing on my site and others.

Recommended Reading

1. Amazon Swim Project - Slovenian swimmer Martin Strel finished his swim of the Amazon River, 3,375 miles over 66 days, from Peru to the Atlantic Ocean. Craziness!

2. Anthony Bourdain’s Rant Against The Food Network - I’ve been following Tony’s TV shows after reading Kitchen Confidential and A Cook’s Tour a few years ago. So when I came across this recent guest blog he wrote, I could almost here his voice spewing forth the insults by the baker’s dozen. They’re funny, and quite true in many respects I’m sure. Having gone through my Food TV phase, I was well aware of all the personalities he took jabs at (just leave Alton alone!).

3. Make Money While You Travel With A Travel Blog - I previously mentioned the revenue which can be generated from Text Link Ads, however this article expands upon the idea.

My Week In Review

My company was bought in 2005, and while 2006 was routine, 2007 has been shaping up to be a little less stable. Without going into detail, some departments are experiencing contractions. I learned a little more about the fate of my own department yesterday, and feel more confident I can hold out until I’m ready to depart on my own terms. Also, I received my edits back from my first travel writing assignment. My piece was sliced and diced, and will take quite a bit more work before I’ll post it here. Stay tuned.

Lastly, I’ve found some interesting search engine traffic headed my way. It seems all the reading I’ve been doing on search engine optimization is paying off. For example, I wrote about Marie Sharp’s Fiery Hot Habanero Sauce because I discovered it in Belize, and because I wrote out the name in the headline, a Google search for “marie sharps fiery” now turns up my posting as the second result of 242,000! Another example is the review I did of the Casual Adventure retail store in my area. My posting is on the first page of Google results for “casual adventure,” ranked 9th of 2,180,000 results for those keywords. More craziness! And one last example, based on my New York City restaurant review of Blue Ribbon.  The posting ranks on the first page of Google’s Blog Search results for “”new york city” restaurant!”

Are any other bloggers experiencing successful SEO results?

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