I thought the iPhone was cool at first, but now it’s just goddamn annoying.  It’s close to being thrown out of my vehicle…at high speeds & here’s why.

iPhone U-Connect - The iphone bluetooth won’t sync with my U-Connect hands free system in my Dodge Ram.  Why?  What’s the problem?  They’re both bluetooth systems.  The iphone pairs with my Jawbone..well sometimes.  And I’ve read that it has issues connecting with other handsfree systems.  Hell, if Apple made a handsfree system for the car, it probably wouldn’t connect to that either.

iPhone & Mac - Both of these electronic devices are made by Apple correct?  So why, once again, is bluetooth compatibility such a frickin issue.  I can’t pair my Mac & iphone to do anything.  iPhone bluetooth won’t send or receive files…so what’s the point.  I could do it with my Blackberry, which isn’t made by Apple, so why can’t I send files between to Apple made products?  Because they suck that’s why.

Quicktime - Quicktime is an Apple made product right.  iPhone has Quicktime as it’s default movie playing application, but if someone sends you a Quicktime movie as an email attachement, there’s no way in hell you’ll get to play it because the iPhone will say that it’s not a compatible movie type.  Another instance of incompatibility between products from the SAME DAMN COMPANY!

Network Loss - I lose connection to the network probably 5 times a day…in areas that I know should be connected.  The only way to re-connect is to shut the phone down and reboot.  Sounds like a PC if you ask me.  This is one of the more annoying traits of the iPhone.

Inability to Save Email Attachments - Someone sends you a Word document as an email attachment.  Sure you can read it on the iphone, but you can’t save it as a file to a folder.  Why?  What possible harm could one do by saving an email attachment as an individual file somewhere on the iPhone?

Apple talks about giving their users freedom to share information, music, movies, and access to anything and everything, but in realilty, Apple is so scared that you’re going to find a way to steal, modify or improperly use this information that they handcuff you from being able to do anything useful with the iPhone.  It’s purely eye-candy and they’ve tricked millions into thinking it’s something they have to have.  I’ll admit…I thought it was cool and I got one…but it will find it’s way on Ebay or in the trash soon.  I’ll go back to my old Blackberry which can actually provide functionality, not just fluff!

I got to thinking back about some of the websites I’ve designed and built in the past 10 years, and I can honestly say that probably 75% of the just plain sucked.  Bad layouts & navigation, bad ideas, even worse SEO (if not non-existant SEO) and just all sorts of dumbness.  It’s funny becasue at the time I was making them, any particular site seemed like the best work I’d ever done, and it was destined to be a HUGE success.  Unfortunately, the majority were flops…but that’s the important part.

You learn so much more from the ideas that stink and never get off the ground, than you do from the ones that are successful.  By this I mean that when something just doesn’t work, it’s often much easier to figure out why it failed compared to when a project takes off and is a resounding success.  Tweak here, tweak there, research a little more, change this, and the next project that comes around will be better if nothing for the fact that you’ve probably honed your skill set and are smarter for it.   Personally, I laugh hardest at some of my attempts at graphics and art work.  My Photoshop skills were almost non-existent until a couple years ago, but I thought my headers and images kicked serious ass….boy was I wrong.

Remember, what you think is your best work ever, will probably be in the “What was I thinking” pile a few years from now.  Guess what ?  It’s because you more skilled than you once were…and that’s exactly where you want to be.

Ok, We all know that the only real way to increase a site’s popularity is through link building.  Most of the time these links can be in the form of directory submissions, link exchange, blog commenting, or good old fashioned natural links that occur when people actually find enough value in their site to give you a link on theirs.

Obviously naturally built links the preferable method to get high quality links and traffic to your site, but let’s face it, every web idea you have isn’t going to go viral from the get go!  And most of the time you’ll have to give your site a little nudge to get things going.  If you can get some decent search engine rankings for a few keywords, that should help get the ball rolling, and hopefully, if you have a site that isn’t complete junk, and you offer your visitors a useful service, product or information, the natural link building will commence.

So the million dollar question…how many links do I need to get decent search engine rankings so I can get my site seen, and everyone will love it and we all live happily ever after?  The answer is, there is no answer.  I recommend getting links anywhere and everywhere you can at first, but MAKE SURE THEY’RE QUALITY LINKS.  Don’t go crazy with 5000 directory submissions a day, but if you build a few hundred links a week, and can keep that consistency, for a couple months, you’ll start to your SERP’s improve.

The whole idea here is to get your site out into the world, get it seen, and have people start giving you natural links so you don’t have to rely on search engine traffic.  If your site has some value to it, people will want to link to it naturally.  Strive to get traffic outside of organic search traffic and watch your traffic explode.

This was great…and the memo line is the best part!  Click on the image to get a better look.