EVS-Islands

I'm still on vacation, but my daughter-in-law lets me use her computer. So while my wife reads or naps, I compute.

During one of my computing session, my son suggested I secure the URL www.evs-islands.com. I found that it was available and for a mere $7.15 per year, it's mine. I used GoDaddy.com to register my URL. It was a fairly simple process lasting about 20-minutes.

Once I owned www.eve-islands.com, I checked it out and, sure enough, it was live. Nothing was in it, but it was alive.

Using a Setting feature within Blogger that lets me use my own URL while displaying my blog site's data within it,I decided to go for it. I made a few changes to my blog's settings and in my GoDaddy account and...LINK!

Actually, the link took about 2-hours to establish. Now, when you visit my blog site, evs-islands.blogspot.com, Blogger redirects you to my new URL, www.evs-islands.com.

I'm not sure how Google searches will work with this new link. Whether Google will place my post's URL's into my Blogger blogspot URL or into evs-islands.com URL?

You might ask, "Why spend time explaining this URL stuff on an island mapping site?" I know that many of you enjoy my island maps and posts discussing the How's and What For's, of mapping. However, I suspect many of you would love to establish your own content on the WWW/Internet. This URL business is an important step toward establishing your content's credibility on the WWW/Internet. I enjoy the flexibility and ease-of-use Blogger provides. Yet, the addition of the word blogspot within your URL somehow brings the validity of your content into question. Most readers could care less about this blogspot business, but, after 2-years of blogging, I am here to tell you blogspot within your URL is not a plus. Using Blogger's blogging features, you can blog your content, while using your new URL identity. If your content is well researched, carefully documented and consistently formatted, your new URL says to the world - "My stuff is good, because it is good! And, I'm spending $7.15 a year on a classy URL, so it's got to be good!" Cool, huh?

Enjoy!

Labels: Blogger, blogspot, EVS-Islands, GoDaddy

Posted by Mr Minton at 7/27/2007 08:10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

If it wasn't for James Fee and his excellent work on Planet GS many GIS blogs would be read by the blog author and his or her close and loyal friends and family. Planet GS has allowed me to share my island projects with thousands of people throughout the world. I owe much of my blog's success to Planet GS.

My work is well received, being viewed by 50 to 100 visitors daily. My posts of island projects are typically found in the top five site references for a Google search. My point is - I am what I am (blog-wise) due to the quality of my work, the breath of my posts and the exposure offered by Planet GS.

So, it was with a great deal of displeasure I read the "Blogger Bashing" thread on James Fee's website dated November 02. To a person, everyone had fun bashing Blogger and the spamming-like problems that it supposedly creates in Planet GS.

As a Blogger blogger, I don't think the problem is with Blogger. The problem is with the blogger (little "b"). That is the individual blogging. Not all of us are HTML-pros. Not everyone works on the coding side of GIS. Some of us just have GIS-related ideas to share and Blogger is a great vehicle to carry our ideas forth. We sometimes screw up and post when we shouldn't post or post silly content. That is a problem of the blogger, not Blogger.

What am I trying to say? I resent that my site, EVS Islands, shows up on a list of Blogger derived sites (see the above link) as if it isn't worthy to be listed alongside non-Blogger sites. That is a bunch of elitist crap! I work long hours to ensure the quality of my posts meet my high exacting standards. I labor long and hard to maintain a consistently high standard of content. I never, knowingly, produce trite commentary, but strive to share topics relevant to my special interest, Enhanced Vector Shorelines of islands.

My product, high quality island maps, is for everyone, not merely the GIS expert. I am sure my readers include bored office workers, students and elderly dreamers. Great! And Blogger is how I am able to share my work.

James Fee - your work with Planet GS has allowed my product and that of others to be widely viewed throughout the world. If someone is messing up, determine the problem and let them know with a personal email. If they ignore your fair warning, since Planet GS is your site, delete their feed.

All of us in the GIS community truely appreciate Planet GS and all that you do.

Most especially this GIS Blogger blogger.

Labels: blog, Blogger, GIS, James Fee, Planet GS

Posted by Mr Minton at 11/20/2006 04:59:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post