SEO: A necessary evil?

Monday, 24 May 2010

Sorry for the very long delay between posts. I had a mad couple of weeks, followed by an ITI workshop in York and a long weekend in the Yorkshire Dales, and then managed to pick up both a chest infection and a bladder infection that laid me low for a bit.

Anyway, the ITI workshop in York was to do with marketing myself to potential clients and, specifically, how to enhance my online presence. I’ve had a website for a while now, but knew it wasn’t actually generating much business for me. I hope I’ve now gone some way to remedying that, partly by altering the content of the site following advice from various parties and partly by changing the way in which I upload my site to my hosting company. I’ve just done a quick test, and I seem to be much higher up the Google rankings than before. So, I think I’ve moved in the right direction SEO-wise. I’ll find out in the fullness of time. I’m not expecting dozen of offers of work in my inbox tomorrow morning, but enquiries from a few new clients would be nice.

Akiyoshido (秋芳洞) Caverns

A nice week

Friday, 30 April 2010

Perhaps that’s because I’ve spent the last 2 days translating three technical articles about rechargeable batteries. The first two were fairly straightforward and dealt with how manufacturers are managing to make mobile phone batteries smaller and smaller. The third, however, is proving to be more of a challenge as it goes into a lot of detail about circuitry and the like, which is not really my field. Still, it’s true that you’ll never improve beyond a certain point as a translator unless you try new things and test yourself once in a while, so perhaps the long weekend will recharge my batteries and enable me to get stuck into it a bit better on Tuesday.

This week has been quite a pleasant one. I had no work at all until Thursday. A couple of years ago that would have stressed me out and got me worrying about the size of my client base, but not any more. It just meant I was able to spend more time with Tom, which was great. He’s sleeping and eating well at the moment, and is very good company during the day.

Charcoal grilling, Japanese style

A day off (ish)

Monday, 26 April 2010

Today was that most precious of days: a day without work. Almost. I did have to read through a patent I translated last week, but other than that, I was unburdened by translation. Days like this occur less and less often these days, so I was determined to make the most of it. As such, I am sitting here at 3.30pm having:

• Had a good e-mail clear-out.
• Tidied my desk to an acceptable extent (that is, I can now see my desk)
• Prepared my April invoices
• Edited a batch of photos from last week’s falconry day
• Assembled and filled my son’s sandpit
• Mowed the lawn
• Arranged a cottage in the Yorkshire Dales for next month.
• Put a new rear tyre on my Yamaha
• Updated my blog (obviously)

A useful day, yes? And it’s (top quality) sausages & mash tonight. I like the way this week’s started, although my May batch of patentability reports to translate will soon be here.

Tom and me at Hikone Castle (彦根城)

Back to work

Monday, 8 March 2010

So, my first day back at work after a 2-week trip to Japan. It went pretty well, mainly thanks to (a) getting back on Saturday rather than Sunday and (b) Tom shedding his jet-lag pretty quickly.

We had a fantastic trip, despite the obvious limitations of having a 1-year old in tow, Still, Tom took to Japan wonderfully well, especially the food, and was very happy to be the star of the show wherever we went.

Personally, I found it very gratifying that:

• The service industry is still alive and well in Japan. So nice after the shoddy service you generally get in the UK.
• You can eat amazingly well for very little money, even with a terrible exchange rate.
• There is simply no finer way to travel than on the Shinkansen (bullet train), and especially the Hikari Rail Star.
• I still like nothing better than soaking in a hot spring.
• 100 yen shops are amazing places, where you can buy pretty much anything.

I really must make sure it’s not 3 and a half years until my next visit. That was far too long an interval.

Koyasan (高野山) near Osaka

One year on

Wednesday, 10 February 2010

So, I’ve now been a translator and a father for exactly a year (Tom arrived Feb10th 2009). Before the big event, I was almost certain that having a young child in the house would limit my availability, and therefore income, to a certain degree, but how did it actually pan out in the end? Well, in the 12 months since Tom was born, I’ve actually earned around £3200 more than in the 12 months up to his birth, so it would seem that he’s been anything but a hindrance.

99% of the credit for this goes to Tom’s mum, Nik, who has taken him out of the house to do something on every one of the 365 days he’s been with us, come rain, snow, fog, colds, conjunctivitis, teething pains, full nappies, projectile vomits and any number of other obstacles. I’m a lucky man.

The lad

New nose please

Wednesday, 3 February 2010

When do I most appreciate being self-employed and working from home? Ironically, when I’m under the weather and feeling like cack. Today, for example, my head has hurt and my nose has run all day, but I still got a decent amount of work done. If I’d still been a company employee, the the thought of having to actually go out in the cold to get to an office, do a full day’s work, and then venture back home through the traffic would have been unpleasant indeed. As it is, I’ve had regular visits from wife and son to cheer me up, eaten a Wispa Gold and several handfuls of Bombay Mix, watched 30 minutes of Japanese TV at lunchtime, and I now feel not too bad, but am looking forward to a soak in a hot bath. Let’s hope my nose has got its act together tomorrow.

The best way to see Japan

MITI!

Tuesday, 2 February 2010

Well, todays’s big news is that I am now a fully qualified member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting, and can now put MITI after my name. I’m very pleased (and relieved) about this. I don’t think it will make a huge difference to my day-to-day work, as I’ve been working at pretty much full capacity for a couple of years now, but being positively evaluated by one’s peers is very reassuring. Thanks to all those who sent me tweets today. Much appreciated. I’ll get round to updating my CV, website, business card etc. when I have time.

Otherwise, a very straightforward day: 6 patentability reports and part of yet another hair dye patent translation. Only one to go now (I think).

Kamikochi (上高地) in the Japan Alps