by Jonny | Nov 18, 2013 | Updates
Hate is indeed a strong word. However there’s a trigger that has recently forced me to write this blog post. Whether it’s anger or disappointment, I don’t know. I’ve now been living in a house share for well over 7 months now and I thought I’d list all the pain and suffering that one has to endure whilst living with other people who you don’t really know that well.
1. Number one issue for me is: The internet is slow
This issue has in fact triggered me to write this post and it’s something that pisses me off the most as I work on a search marketing team and the internet is… kind of vital to me. I can’t blame anyone specifically at this time, but these two new girls recently moved in and ever since they moved in the internet has been painfully slow. Slow enough to make me feel quite livid about my current situation. My theory is that they are downloading stuff via Torrent and its taking up all the download bandwidth, thus slowing the internet down for everyone else. I don’t know what to do, but if the situation continues like this then I’ll be turning off the modem for a couple of hours. I probably sound mental for even suggesting that idea.
2. Cooking, cooking, cooking! One at a time!
God damnit! I hate the fact that you have to SHARE a kitchen. The fact that people don’t wait for you to finish cooking is what annoys me the most. There is clearly not enough for 2 people to be cooking at the same time, yet I’m finding that the people I live with don’t see this. It’s also quite awkward having to ask you to constantly move so I can get to the stove before my food starts burning. I mean, it doesn’t take me long to cook, so please wait until I’m finished and she is all yours.
3. Cleanliness
O-M-G. Learn to clean! I shouldn’t have to explain this one, but I will. I’ll start off with the fridge. If your food is decomposing then that means you should be throwing that food in the bin. You’ll find that your smell senses will come into play and will indicate for you the fact that your food has gone bad and your food is now making the fridge smell like a dog has just released his/her excrement after drinking a bucket full of bin juice. Take. It. Out.
4. The only personal space is your room
I really miss living in a family home, as the entire house is sort of a personal space. You know everyone quite well and there is nothing you’re embarrassed about. You can walk out the shower with pride and enjoy, with just your undies on and perhaps a towel if you’re still a little shy. Not in a house share, my friend. You’ll be waiting for those in the kitchen (bathroom is connected to the kitchen) to vámonos and you may have to wait a while if they’re the slow cooking type. I know I’m being selfish at this point, but it’s just so hard adapting to this type of lifestyle and living with complete strangers.
5. On the plus side: Using the washing machine
I can’t really complain about this. My house mates are pretty good when it comes to this. We basically have this railing downstairs that is next to a radiator. Basically, we’ll hang up our clothes on this railing and it will dry very quickly due to the proximity of the railing and the radiator. It’s only a small bit of railing, but it will hold a full batch of clothes that need drying after being washed. I’ll give my house mates a plus on this as they’re quick to remove their clothes after it has dried, which opens up that railing for others to dry their clothes. You guys are doing an amazing job regarding this, if you’re reading this. Keep it up.
I probably sound like I hate my house mates (I do actually hate one of them), but I don’t really; I just hate the concept of house shares. I’ve actually been looking at moving into a studio flat, and that’s the sort of place that I’d enjoy. You can invite friends over, and typically do whatever you want. We’ll see what my financial side looks like next year and I may possibly move somewhere else.
by Jonny | Aug 22, 2013 | Updates
I am in a pissed off mood today as the college that I signed up to do an “Access to Web Design — Standards” course is suddenly no longer doing the course due to lack of interest/students.
I usually wouldn’t be annoyed at something like this. This is, however, a course that I signed up for last month. I also had to do a Math and English test to get into this course. I passed those with ease and thought I was on my way back to a life of education in a field that interested me.
Of course, as usual with my life — things don’t always turn out to be what they are and whenever something is going well there is always a downer to cause stress or to just piss me off. I am actually quite grateful in this instance that I have a full-time job at a major media agency that is paying me quite well. Otherwise, I would have been left even more pissed off at the fact they had told me on the day of enrollment that they were no longer doing the course and had no alternative courses that I could do that be would similar to the course I applied for.
What’s even more annoying is that this week I received three methods of communication from Tower Hamlets College asking me to enroll on the 8/22/2013 for the Access to Web Design course. (See the image of the letter above) The first form of communication came by post. The second form of communication came by email; and the third by text message. All of the information given was to enroll today for the course that I had signed up for. I was actually in a happy mood today as thought I’d be an adult student studying a web design course, which is the type of future I see myself in.
Unfortunately they did not communicate the fact that they had totally stopped the course giving me only 2 weeks to find another college that would hopefully allow me to enroll onto a suitable course.
It’s quite funny actually. They deleted the the “Access to Design for Web — Web Standards” page from their site after I had commented on their Facebook page:
I get that mistakes happen; however, I’ve now been left at a disadvantage as I now have to spend time finding another course. The fact that I may have to take time off from work doing that is what pisses me off to no end.
by Jonny | Aug 10, 2013 | Updates
Now that I’ve started working as an actual SEO I’ve created this Search Engine category in order to share my latest tips on SEO. This will essentially mean that whatever I’ve found useful – I’ll share it. It’ll also be a reference that I can look back to in-case I stupidly forget what I’m doing and have a nervous breakdown.
How do I find blogs that allow guest posts?
The one major part of my work is to link build and I essentially do that using Google search operators. You don’t really have to type in anything fancy and you’ll only really need to use the more technical search operators if you have specific requirements. Though I find that the quotation marks usually work well for most search uses.
If I wanted to find a blog that allows guest posts that fit, let’s say, “cars” then I would type the following into Google:
- “guest post requirements” “cars”
Result:
Those are all sites that you could potentially get guest posts on and the list is endless.
Or if I wanted to find financial websites that allow guest posts, I’d change “car” with “finance” and we’ll also change the key term (The first part in quotations):
As you can see there is a large list of sites that are potential guest posting opportunities and they fit the niche that I’m trying to target. Now I would not use the term “guest post requirements” or “guest posts” for all your guest post finding adventures and I would vary these searches with the following key terms that I’ve found and they are quite useful for content marketing.
Key terms
- “guest post requirements”
- “guest blog application”
- “guest posting rules”
- “guest posting”
The format:
“[Insert key term here]” “[Insert niche here]”
In addition to finding these sites I’d do a lot of research behind the sites you’re contacting and I’d come up with articles that fit the readership and that actually would make sense on any given website.
Hope this helps!
by Jonny | Aug 6, 2013 | Updates
I actually haven’t talked about what I’ve been doing ever since I arrived back in the UK and there is a reason for this. The reason is because I have not had enough time to update my blog that much and I’ve generally been knackered.
For the past month up until now I’ve been doing an unpaid internship for a digital marketing agency. It’s one of the largest digital marketing agencies in the UK and is now part of a company which recently became the 1# advertising agency in the world. The people there couldn’t be any better and I couldn’t be happier to be involved in the accounts they are currently managing. There is also talk of this internship leading to a job, which is what I’m hoping for and counting on. However, if a job doesn’t come out of it the experience is invaluable and the contacts that I have made will be handy in the future. I’ve also had a fantastic experience there and I’ve seriously met some of the nicest people you’d ever want to work alongside. – That’s something that makes this job transcend in comparison to my previous job in Taiwan.
Some random image to make this post more interesting. / Image via morgueFile
So why I am I doing an internship?
It’s the best way to gain experience. Additionally, I’ve always wanted to be involved in some sort of internet related job and I think I’ve actually found something that I would like to do career-wise. Even if I don’t get a job where I’m currently working, I’ve actually had plenty of offers on my doorstep offering me positions of similar jobs in this field. It seems that the infamous “Outreach Strategist” title is an attractive choice for recruiters who have looked at my CV. Although I’m actually more interested in the technical side of things; however, I don’t mind growing into that from an outreach position. I mean, I already have quite a bit of knowledge of the technicalities of SEO and the procedures behind it, but I feel I’d do better in another position that I’m confident in (Outreach) and then I could eventually grow and become more confident in technical SEO, which is what I’d eventually like to do.
It is still early days and even though I’ve been working at this digital media agency for over a month now there is still so much more to learn. I’ve actually come to the conclusion that SEO is a never ending cycle as there is always something new coming along or when Google suddenly makes an algorithmic change – the rules also have to change to go along with that change. Right now, content marketing is the in-thing for SEOs doing external link building; however, that soon might be changing with recent algorithmic updates that Google have employed to prevent SEOs abusing the framework that Google have so carefully crafted. Anyways, hopefully I’ll be employed by this month or the next. I’m definitely a lot more hopeful than I was when I originally arrived in this country and I now see a future in this market.
Fingers crossed.
Edit: Oh, and if you’re a Content Strategist or some other form of link builder, don’t be put off by this blog post. I still may or may not accept your guest post request depending on the quality of your email to me and the proposition. The types of emails that I’ve received from many of the people that have been seeking guest posts on this blog have been absolutely irritating. I’ve even had one media agency try to play dirty with me by using a gmail email account pretending to be an individual as opposed to a group trying to obtain a guest post on my blog. – It won’t work with me and I’d rather you be honest about your intentions; rather than try to trick me. :s
by Jonny | Jul 12, 2013 | Updates
Okay, so I’ve been thinking about this for a long time and I really want a new phone, but I also really want a new laptop. I can only afford to choose one of those two options that I have and it’s bloody difficult.
This is the laptop I’m thinking of getting:
- Processor – Intel Core i5 3230M – 2.4 GHz
- RAM – 8GB
- Hard Drive – 1 TB
- Operating System – Windows 8 (64-Bit)
- Optical Drive – DVD Super Multi
- Graphics – NVIDIA GeForce GT 635M
- Graphics Memory – 2 GB
- Cost: £539.86
It would be quite the upgrade from my current laptop model:
- AMD A4-4355M processor
- Windows 8
- Memory: 4 GB
- Hard drive: 500 GB
- AMD HD 6520G
- Graphics Memory – 2 GB
- £430.00
For the record, the AMD A4-4355M processor is a POS. I bought this laptop a year and a half ago and from the very start it wouldn’t really run certain programs that required too much CPU usage. It seems to not fair well when it comes to CPU intensive programs and games.
I especially want to run programs like PhotoShop, and I generally want the ability to open up to 20 tabs at a time. I feel the Intel Core i5 2.4 Ghz could possibly cater to my needs and would be much better than the POS I have now. Unless someone has any other suggestions, I’m going with an i5. I’m possibly looking into the i7 to, essentially, “future-proof” my laptop choice, although I’ll have to save a little more in order to get that type of beastly laptop.
My second option for a new phone would be the Samsung Galaxy S4; it’s a little cheaper than a laptop, but considering the differences and capabilities, you’d think a phone would be much, much cheaper. – Then again, they are essentially fitting a laptop into a tiny piece of hardware.
So, phone or laptop? I’m more inclined to go with a better laptop because I use my laptop more often than my phone. Though, I find myself not using my phone because it’s a piece of crap. Would I actually use my phone more often if it was better? Possibly. I’d likely take more pictures, as my Samsung Galaxy S model is a little crappy when it comes to taking pictures. I think I might wait a little while and possibly wait until I actually get a job before diving into my savings.
by Jonny | Jul 11, 2013 | Updates
Today I met up with an old friend of mine from secondary school. I can’t honestly say that the experience was enjoyable as we went to this bar where they were playing loud music and it was really difficult communicating. I was trying to get a catch up as to what she’d been doing the past 2 years, but as I said, it was too difficult to communicate with the music and all. Then we went to this disco… where she and her friend were kind of dancing and staring at each other, smiling, as they were kind of dancing. I wasn’t sure if they were sober or if this was their normal behavior. Either way, it was an extremely weird experience… But it was good seeing her again and knowing that she’s doing well for herself! 🙂
Here’s a pic with me and her: (I’m not sure if I have any old photos to make a comparison from secondary school)
