nwizardblog

So in my never-ending improvement of web design skills, I was doing some SEO (Search Engine Optimization) research and decided to evaluate my business site using Google’s Webmaster Tools. Some of the results of how Google evaluates my site came as a bit disheartening…

Basically, while the top few associated terms are what I would expect and hope for (my name, web design, etc.), many of the other keywords came from a source I question if I want associated with my business self…this one.

The way Google interacts with Wordpress blogs, every post I’ve ever made here counts as an external link to my site (courtesy me putting it in my links). So with hundreds of external links from here, it’s no surprise “wii” is my 3rd biggest term according to Google.

The internet didn’t use to have this automatic two way street. In the old days, people exchanged links if they wanted to be associated, but an idle link was not an immediate flag of relevance between two points. Despite my wishes, my online persona as the Nintendo Master and my web designer self Mr. Campbell have become closely intertwined. It’s said that even bad press is good advertising, but in an industry where reputation is so important, do I really want my business self to have even the smallest connection to my gothed-out MySpace or occasional emo rambling here?

It’s tough, weighing the pros and cons. Do you advertise yourself at every possible opportunity? Or do you keep quiet except in times you’d have no shame if the advertising were turned around on you?

Either way, I don’t think this blog is going to stay around much longer. The only question is what will replace it. I have some interesting ideas, but surprisingly the technology is just a little bit behind what I’d like to do. It might require a small but significant time investment for me to tweak various software.

Then again, if I manage to land this job over at Funcom (any other Age of Conan players out there?), I definitely am going to want a blog to keep a record of my life beginning and ending in the games industry…