I had a question about the new look and the columns on the right – how are they done?

First off, the whole site is my own ABTheme, and the only graphic is the logo up top (for now).

On the right are the standard WordPress sidebar items, with one exception. ABTheme makes it easy to move items around, so I can set up whatever interests me, and wherever it interests me (I can rearrange later).

The odd man out is the Ad panel – it’s a plugin I released this month on my ActiveBlogging membership site, and that I sell separately as my WordPress Ad Panel Widget.

The plugin is simple – just fill it full of ad images and links, and it rotates them nicely (as you go to other pages you’ll see what I mean). This helps with Ad Blindness (you’ll notice a lot of sites using a block like this use statically arranged images instead).

And the size was determined by what I wanted. I could have loaded up a few 88×31 ads (a common small size) but they really don’t display much. And wider ads (like the venerable 468×60) wouldn’t fit. So it was 125×125, which the program automatically expanded to display…

The only other problem? ABTheme can create three columns, but the ad banner looks best wide – and wide needs both columns.

In the end, the solution was simple:

In the first column, use a CodeChunk instead of a widget, and use the following code:

<?php if(function_exists(utopia43_output)) { ?>
<div style='position:absolute;margin-left:0px;'>
<?php utopia43_output(1,0,""); ?>
</div>
<div style='height:410px;'></div>
<?php } ?>

Then I created a second code chunk, like this:

<div style='height:410px;'></div>

Then I added both chunks to my sidebar; the first one in the first column at the top, the second one for the second column (again, at the top).

What the code does is display the too-wide block without stretching the column. And the second section makes the second column contents begin lower down – this way entries don’t start too high, and get in the way of the ads.

Note the sizes are based on a 2 column by 3 row 125×125 ad block – of course if I change the layout I’ll have to fiddle with the results.

Nonetheless, it works well, and looks nice – and well worth the effort of setting it up!

It’s a work in progress, but I’ve started tweaking the site. Lighter colors, more ads on the sidebar (using my new Easy AdBlock plugin for WordPress). My next goal? Header adjustments, and images. Maybe a background image. More ads (I have a LOT of products).

And of course, you’re welcome to weigh in with opinions – after all, the goal of a change is to make it more enjoyable for YOU – so what do you want to see?

If you’ve been trying to build up your site then you know what pagerank is.

And more than likely you detest pagerank.

Like going to a dance in the sixth grade, you don’t know how come you’re not cool. You don’t know what you can do to be cool. All you know is, the cool kids don’t think you’re cool.

So it is with page rank. If the great and lofty Google has decreed that my site is worth this or that or something else, then it is so. For those fortunate people with page ranks of six or seven or eight or nine, they’ve been granted a gift, and the key to untold blessings.

But for the rest of us getting a 4 or a 5 (or heaven forbid. 3, 2, 1, or the dreaded 0) pagerank is just a constant reminder that we’re not cool – and we don’t know why.

I understand the mechanics of it: links, popularity, who clicks through from the search engine, etc. All of these things go towards the ranking.

And if it was a easily to duplicate the formula, then you’d know why you fail, and could correct it.

But like the ‘special sauce’, what annoys me is the factors we’ll never be told – the full recipe that makes up pagerank. So important, so opaque, and yet so many people depend on what could be any number of factors completely beyond their control.

When I was a kid I went to a local roller rink and we played Whip The Whip. For those of you who’ve never played, it involves a long line of kids skating around holding onto each other, and the one in front decides where to go, which means the ones at the end gets whipped around really fast on the turns.

REALLY FAST.

Guess where I was.

Guess why I didn’t play Whip The Whip after that?

I don’t like the idea of swinging around wildly under another person’s control – and pagerank reminds me too much of Whip the Whip. If page rank was simply a source of good, no problem. But like a special contest for the kiddies where everyone wins a ribbon, giving the same rank to everyone would make for good feelings – but little else.

My reason for complaining here is not the page rank is bad (although to be clear, if it’s under five it sure feels that way), but that I think it’s inadequate for websites – and especially for blogs.

I think it’s time to come up with a different system for blogs. One that is open, easy to understand and hard to ‘game’. Yes, I know people will try to fiddle with the system for their benefit, but that shouldn’t mean the methodology needs to be private.

For instance, an open method might involve a social component. At the very least, if there was a way of tracking links to/from the blog, and how long visitors stay, you’d have an idea how popular a blog is. This would likely require people putting code on their sites to monitor – but the benefit of having an independent ranking might make it well worth the trouble.

And I realize that other companies are doing that now, but my goal would be something open source – something that anybody could choose or modify but that gives an independent evaluation. Because frankly, if any one company has the control over the information, then the potential is to abuse it – much as what we’re seeing with pagerank now.

So yes, it’s time for change and openness is vital – not only because it means everybody knows exactly how they’re being graded, but also open means no one group or person can control it. And although Google no doubt likes being the master of their ‘official’ standard, the rest of us are playing Whip the Whip from the unfun end. And I for one prefer not being at the Whip’s end when it comes to my online marketing.

I was watching Jon Stewart tonight and one of the segments on cosmetic surgery for Beverly Hills. In it, Larry Wilmore was making fun of the doctor by asking him which was a better use of money: to support a foster child, or have cosmetic surgery.

It should have been funny – but the doctor was so good at explaining his position that I found myself surprised.

His argument was simple: the cost of any procedure across the length of time you keep it makes it very cost-effective. And let’s face it, changes to your body can last a LONG time.

Whoever thought of a face lift as an amortized expense?

A year ago, if you had asked me if cosmetic surgery was a good idea. I would’ve automatically answered no. But after that little segment, I started realizing in the right situation, even a little nip and tuck could be seen as a business expense.

(And just be clear, I am NOT talking here about reconstructive surgeries that bring new hope to people – I don’t think ANYONE argues that those aren’t worthwhile).

Now no one is saying that a tummy touch should be an income tax deduction, but it is interesting to contemplate that there might be business benefits to cosmetic surgery:

• Youth and good looks are focussed on by the media. Someone who has a job (or wants a job) there can argue that a tweak here and there can improve their business opportunities.
• Even in the business world, executives benefit by having adjustments from time to time to appear more dynamic (and so perceived as worthy of managing a company, for instance).
• And then there’s the cynical side: Ashlee Simpson’s nose job DIID get her on the covers of a few magazines.

But even if you argue that these are bad reasons, and no one should tinker for less than major reasons (such as repairing disfigurement), you’d be surprised how small a group of supporters you’d find.

According to one website, about one third of British women have used Botox.

One third.

And I’m sure that number could be even higher elsewhere, especially image-conscious East Coast and West Coast cities in North America.

So I can talk about the importance of inner beauty, and that it’s the most important thing – but about 30% of British women would disagree with me.

The fact is, whereas I’m personally bothered by the idea of going under the knife to correct a few things just for an business/career/lifestyle advantage, I realize that many people ARE choosing to use Cosmetic Surgery, they feel it’s a benefit, and frankly, it’s their business.

And it’s a BIG business.

With the high prices for colleges and universities, many may think an MBA is an almost impossible goal – and for many it is.

However, you can get a very good business education very cheap, and just about anywhere in the world.

At the library.

If you don’t have a library card, get one. It’s a free (or at least inexpensive) portal to the thoughts of a great many successful businessmen and women.

I think nowadays libraries are under appreciated, more so than in the past years (and I’m not sure how appreciated they were, then).

The fact is, the Internet has made us lazy. It’s just too easy to research things online, and even a short trip to the local library seems glacially slow compared to Internet speeds.

But the problem with online information is that what you read has very little editorial control or censorship, and isn’t guaranteed to be valid or even work correctly, especially for business.

In contrast, by the time a book reaches the library it’s been vetted by a number of people, such as reviewers, librarians (looking at reviews), and the marketplace (which helps promote successful books so they get reviewed). This helps winnow out the worst of the books, and improves the quality of the ones that do make it to the library shelves.

And although some books are worth buying and keeping in your own home library, it’s libraries that let you try out which of these books IS a ‘keeper’.

For instance, I checked out my local copy of Robert Cialdini’s “Influence”, read it, and liked it so much I bought a copy of it to keep with me. If it hadn’t been at the library, I may not have read it, and bought it (perhaps not the best example, as many people have recommended it and I might have bought it, but you get the idea).

So sharpen up your old library card, drop by your local place, and go through a shelf or two on business topics. You’d be amazed at the education you’ll get.