Kyle G's Blog

Recently I attended BMPR, and the topic of discussion was SEO. All the speakers were especially knowledgeable in their areas of expertise (Which means: SEO (Search Engine Optimization)).

One suggestion and tip was to go after the low hanging fruit. What this means is: Your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN, any profile whatsoever, to include forums, should always contain your URL.

I still agree with this, as people may often view your profile, and or all it takes is that one right person to click your profile then the link. However for SEO purposes it’s almost useless. @firecatsue did a great presentation, and by no means am I being negative or trying to harm her or her reputation, just trying to make sure everyone knows the facts about low hanging fruits, as sometime you can be mislead as to what really counts.

To start, you can watch this:

or read this: http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=96569

So after reviewing that, you now realize what nofollow is and how it’s used. NoFollow = No Value In Search Engines Whatsoever.

Here are some examples of no follows:

Facebook nofollow

Linked In uses a redirection script, so it's not directly linked to your site

Twitter nofollow

vBulletin Forum nofollow

I hope everyone finds this information useful, and that you don’t rely too heavily on the no follow links!

Thanks again to #bmpr and @firecatsue and more for the awesome presentations!

I’ve always wanted to help people. I’ve had this desire to create or manage a project, business, or idea and be able to run with it, and watch it become the perfect “thing”. That’s what drove me to start my own web hosting business in 2004. I wanted to offer people affordable solutions, at a great price, but still be as awesome as the more expensive alternatives.

Why web hosting? The internet is obviously the now. It’s not the “future”, it is the future as much as it is the now. People need access to information, web sites, games, whatever may be online and they need it now. I want to be a part of that and that’s what drives me.

I want to be a part of this internet revolution, and at the end be able to be a part of it. Helping people, and businesses, while helping myself at the same time is the absolute dream. It’s why I chose to work at Rackspace, that’s why I started InvisionGaming in 2004, and it’s what I want to do with my career. It’s what I’m doing now! Along with web design, printing, and more.

I love developing (Primarily PHP), I love administrating and solving problems (Systems Administration) and that’s a big part of what I do. I want to be useful, and I use the word I very carefully, as it’s obviously an combined effort of multiple people.

I want to go out there, build applications, make people’s lives easier, and not have to trash their or my wallet while I do it.

Sometimes starting a web hosting company can be difficult, in todays economy with so many choices. Sure you can go to GoDaddy, or Bluehost, or any of those and get a similar product for $5 a month. “Unlimited Disk Space”, bandwidth, and more.

I thought we were told, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Right?

I offer the world: Me. The Kyle Experience. Let me wow you, let me help you, and let’s grow together. If I only get and or help 10 customers, then those are 10 people who I’ve had a positive impact on. Sure is better than doing nothing whatsoever, isn’t it? I’m not trying to compete with Rackspace, Bluehost, or Godaddy, I’m simply trying to help people, and just happen to be in direct competition with the interests of said listed companies.

Rather than focusing on making other companies look bad, or fishing for their customers, I respect each and every one, and what they do. We’re in this business together, trying to help people. I do, however, believe some companies like GoDaddy are forgetting the customer, and focusing more on the bottom line, but that seems to be a popular trend.

This is why I do what I do, and that’s why I’ve jumped right back into the game with Custom Hosting Solutions. I guess it means that we are your “mom and pop” shop, where you get the same features, but the customer service is just great. I want to interact with my customers, let’s follow each other on twitter, let’s add each other to our google talk.

Let’s do some business. Want to talk to me? Call me @ 210-692-4286 (:

and last but not least: Let’s do this.

Inspiration..

I find myself often becoming inspired, or put into a deeper mode of thinking whenever I read blog posts from co-workers. Whether they are directly working with me or not, they always just flow so well. It’s rather inspirational, and therefore I thought I would write up a blog post about a blog post and give my thoughts on it. ( Hah )

http://rackerhacker.com/2010/01/03/a-new-year-system-administrator-inspiration/

Major Hayden (RackerHacker), is an experienced systems administrator for Slicehost (Sort of like, a division of the RackSpace Cloud) and he is basically my definition of a Linux Guru (If you asked me to find one you can depend on, it would be him.) I read his blog and sometimes even refer customers to various blog posts. This guy not only knows a lot, he shares what he knows. That says a lot about him I think.

As someone working at RackSpace, I have career goals of my own. These include becoming an Linux Systems Administrator, getting my RHCE, and just learning new things that can better my abilities and help RackSpace as a company become more successful.

I’m excited for 2010 because I believe this is the year that it will happen, I will hit more goals and for some reason just reading RackerHackers post (Above) has reminded me of my goals and has inspired me even further to push for what I want.

My views on the post in general? Click it, I posted a comment. (:

Looking forward to 2010, with you world.

-Kyle

IsMySiteDown/IzMySiteDown - My idea

So I got this idea, I was trying to find IsMySiteDown.com but that is VERY OBVIOUSLY filled with ad’s and is not in effect at all. Use IzMySiteDown.com to check if your site is up. You can also use the Chicago node to check your FTP/SMTP/POP3/HTTP servers as well! Pass it along to all your geeky friends (:

-Kyle

2006 Kia Spectra EX

So, I’ve been looking at cars obviously, and getting my license (They go hand in hand, right?) So, what I have come up with is a 2006 Kia Spectra EX. I won’t bore you with too many details,

Here are the key points:

• $3500 Down Payment
• $250/month Car Payment (That’s because of a 22% Interest rate! Being 18 without credit sucks)
• $350/month Insurance Payment
• It’s only had one owner, the carfax was great, it’s a reliable car.

Basically, I am pretty sure I am going to get it. It’s going to absolutely suck having to pay that much money every month, but the reason I want to finance a car and not just buy one is that I want to build credit. That sounds very adult of me…I know. But, it’s a scary world out there, and let’s face it, I do need to build credit and the sooner I start, the better right?

In other news, I LOVE my job. It’s just beyond words amazing. The people, the work, solving problems, the culture. It’s just great, I am so lucky to have this job.

OH, also. I bought a Flip UltraHD…but I don’t want to point out where the channel is because I plan on being silly and highly unprofessional. It’s for fun. (Email me if interested ;])

Until next time!