Jon Sheppard’s Blog

To Blog or Not to Blog

I have been asked quite a bit lately why it is that I blog. I don’t keep an online journal and I don’t even have a picture of myself on this blog (not that there is anything wrong with .blogspot.com that kind of blogging), but why do I blog? I do it for a couple of reasons:

 
1. I love the freedom of expression that a blog provides.
2. Blogging helps me to learn about all sorts of cool stuff, i.e. FTP, SEM – PPC & SEO, HTML, PHP, and all manner of web-related acronyms.
3. Blogging helps me improve my writing skills. (Or so I hope!)
4. Blogging is fun!

Freedom of Expression

There is something very empowering in the thought that my ideas and opinions could be read by anyone in the world. I know that there are only a handful of you who read this blog because Google Analytics tells me so, but the possibility that I could contribute information on a global scale is still there!

Search Engine Marketing & Internet Technology

I work at a technology company that specializes in local internet marketing for small businesses, so I pretty much have to keep up on how search engines are working. Through blogs, I have learned how to optimize a website and its content show I can show up for relevant terms on the search engines. I’ve learned about site tracking and I’ve even run pay-per-click campaigns to drive traffic to my blogs. Blogging has helped me learn HTML and even a little PHP, stuff that I have wanted to learn ever since I first logged on to America Online.

Blogger is to Blogging as Writer is to Writing?

I don’t consider myself a good writer and I have never enjoyed writing, but under the guise of a blog, I actually like to write. It’s magical. I just wish I would’ve felt this way in 11th grade English!So that’s why I blog, why do you?

Posted in Blogging, PPC, SEO, The Interwebs | 4 Comments »

Why I Didn’t Get an iPhone

I recently purchased a T-Mobile Dash (a.k.a. HTC Excalibur) and I have been pretty happy with it, not because it is the fastest or coolest smartphone on the market, but because it is has a ton of cool features for not a lot of dough. I really wanted an iPhone for all of the same reasons you do, but I didn’t get one and here’s why:

1. 90% of the people I call are on T-Mobile’s network. Mobile-to-mobile calls are free with a family plan, so it just makes cents for me to stay with T-Mobile.
2. The Dash only set me back $99 after rebates, that’s like $300 cheaper than an iPhone.
3. I can tether the Dash to my MacBook via a Bluetooth PAN and then broadcast my phone’s internet connection through my MacBook’s AirPort. Future post forthcoming…

That last feature was the real clincher for me, not only am I able to use my phone’s internet connection on my Mac, but I’m also able to use my MacBook as a router to broadcast said internet connection over a wireless network. Pretty cool, eh?

I do think that an iPhone ranks way higher in degrees of sexiness and innovation but if the iPhone follows the trend set by it’s cousin the iPod, then the next iPhone will be the one I’ll want to get. Maybe Apple will make the second-gen iPhone 3G compatible and maybe they’ll add the Bluetooth PAN feature just for me! And maybe Mike Huckabee will win the Presidency.

One major drawback of the Dash is that Windows Mobile 6 does not work with ActiveSync!

Posted in Mac, Radical | 5 Comments »