Photos of the Beyeler Museum in Riehen, Basel-Stadt.
Author: nchenga
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Beyeler by Renzo Piano
Beyeler in Riehen My favourite place Poppies Detail Love this transition At night More poppies Another external view Walkway thru the park Beyeler: worth a visit -
Jog log
Dear blog,
I am happy to report that I went running on 5 out of 7 days this past week.
The plan is to replace my daily outdoor swim with a slow jog.
Today I did the 2 hills tour. Starting at Bettingerstrasse, running along the Wiese river, via Sonnenhalde and Wenkenpark. More than 6 km long.
I will try to do the same again this week.
My goal at the moment is to run easy.
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Favourite podcasts
The Hidden Brain by NPR:
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510308/hidden-brain?t=1594925472583I listened to this one all about debt:
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/15/877401074/buy-borrow-steal-how-debt-became-the-sugar-rush-solution-to-our-economic-woesThis episode all about scarcity was particularly impressive: https://www.npr.org/2019/08/05/748207152/you-2-0-tunnel-vision
Ted Radio Hour by NPR:
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510298/ted-radio-hourAbout loneliness: https://www.npr.org/2020/07/01/886292087/listen-again-meditations-on-loneliness
How I built this by NPR:
https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-thisHow Ben and Jerry Ice Cream was founded: https://www.npr.org/2020/03/20/818918341/ben-jerrys-ben-cohen-and-jerry-greenfield
The Story behind Recaptcha: https://www.npr.org/2020/05/22/860884062/recaptcha-and-duolingo-luis-von-ahn
ARD Radio Tatort (crime fiction in German):
https://beta.ardaudiothek.de/ard-radio-tatort/1998988L’Italiano Vero:
https://www.litalianovero.it/wp/The only language learning podcast that I like listening to.
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“The boring flower snapshot” returns
The boring flower snapshot is still going strong.
This week’s submission for the most boring flower snapshot I cycled past a field of flowers this week and stopped to take some snaps. The light was beautiful. Taken with my smartphone… As they say, the best camera is the one that is with you.
Sunrays and flowers View my album “The boring flower snapshot” on Flickr.
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Social Objects and how they help me to connect
In a recent offline conversation, I dropped a comment:
That’s my common social object with so-and-so.
Me in an informal conversationI realized how much this old blog post from the beginnings of blogging has influenced me.
My observation: If I find a common social object, it helps me re-connect. If I find a common topic, sport, technology, political view, geographic place, hobby, shared past experiences, the depth of interactions changes.
Sounds obvious.
As 2020 has changed many social interactions, routines, and aspects. I am curious to see what will return and in which way.
2020 is a catalyst for changes that started happening already.
I am curious how work will evolve. Language change is an indicator of societal change. I attended a meeting on Friday where one participant said to another:
I Slack-ed you.
ironically on a Teams callThe tools may change. But, the trajectory will probably remain the same.
Note to myself: My blogger skills are very useful.
Photography is a social object -
Keyword research in 2020: a brief answer
I received this question recently:
If I create content for our company (articles for magazines, social media posts, etc), do I need to try to use KEYWORDS within the text as much as possible? And if yes, is there an online tool / website to check how well I did my job before I publish it?
Here’s my answer:
- Brainstorm and research as much as you can about your topic.
- Ask your sales managers how they describe the service when they talk to people on the phone; write down all the phrases they mention.
- Jot down all the phrases and questions you think people will enter into a search engine for your topic.
- Check the monthly search volume of your phrases using a tool such as SEMRush or Searchmetrics or Ahrefs. Or use free SEO research tools.
- List of tools: https://www.shoutmeloud.com/best-keyword-research-tools-niche.html
- See Neil Patel’s blog for free research tools: https://neilpatel.com/blog/10-free-keyword-research-tools-to-help-plan-your-new-site/
- Via SEMRush blog: https://www.semrush.com/blog/12-free-keyword-research-tools/
- Check search intent by entering the keyphrase into Google. Analyze the results you see:
- Are you seeing some of your competitors? That’s good. You are in the right space.
- Are you seeing dictionary or encyclopedia or university links? That’s not good, if you are a commercial company.
- Look at the Google results and try to understand the search intent.
- See this SEMRush blog: https://www.semrush.com/blog/how-to-identify-intent-in-search/
- Map out the structure and SEO elements of your article.
- Outline the topic you want to target.
- Write a draft meta page title and meta description.
- Write a draft Heading 1 (H1).
- List out the questions you want to answer in your article.
- Questions are typically Heading 2s (H2).
- Answers are a paragraph or a bullet list.
- List out the keyphrases you want to target in the body text.
- List articles that you want to use as inspiration for your SEO writing process.
- Avoid copy and paste. Google is not dumb and can find out if you copy and pasted from another site.
- Review SEO research before starting to write.
- Start SEO copywriting process and include all SEO elements.
- Include main keyphrase in your meta title tag, meta description, H1, add complementary keyphrases in H2s and body of the text, add alt texts for your images.
- There are several tools that you can use to check the keyword distribution and density in your article. I’ve used Ryte.com, Moz, and there’s a new AI tool called MarketMuse that I am testing.
- Important: Write for humans. Make the article useful. Think about the phrases people will use to find this article.
- Track traffic and keyphrases in a tool like SEMRush or SearchMetrics or Ahrefs or Ryte.com or similar. There’s quite a choice.
Hope you find this list useful.
Continuous Improvement -
Giulia Super
What a beautiful vintage car. I saw this snapshot in my Flickr archive. From 2008, taken in Hannover with my Canon 40D.
I like this Alfa Romeo.
Find out more in this Wikipedia article.
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Useful Schema generator for FAQs
I heard about this useful Schema generator for FAQ pages
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When you have over 20 thousand photos on Flickr…
I’ve been on Flickr for over a decade.
And I have over 20 thousand photos.
Imagine.
I didn’t think this is possible.
Memories. Snapshots. Visual notes.
The primary beneficiary is… me.
I love browsing thru my photos.
I love seeing old snapshots emerge in the Flickr stats or in old links or chats.
I realize Flickr might be dying. I hope not. I hope the new owners find a sustainable business model soon. And ways to innovate.
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Cyclists, beware of tram tracks. Dangerous spot on Elisabethenstrasse in Basel
I witnessed a motorbike crash this morning while cycling to work.
I was cycling up Elisabethenstrasse when I heard a loud crash.
A motorbiker had crashed on the other side of the street. At a place where the tram tracks and street don’t leave much space for cyclists and motorbikes.
At exactly the same spot which I’ve previously identified as being dangerous.
Not so long ago, the pavement at the tram stop was increased in height so that now the tram doors open at pavement level.
This means the curb is much higher and steeper.
At the same time, the space between curb and tram track is narrower than before and after the tram stop.
Which means on rainy days, you can easily slip on the wet and slippery tram tracks.
Dangerous.
I usually move to the middle of the tracks, away from the curb.
I think I will cycle a different route. Especially on rainy days.
Life is precious. Cycle safely.
As you can tell i am shocked.
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Content distribution strategies on my mind
Brian Dean’s recent study confirmed what many Digital Marketing folks know intuitively.
(…) Brian Dean recently found that 94% of all content generates zero backlinks. And just 1.3% of articles gobble up 75% of all social shares.
Source: BraftonIt’s 2020 and we’ve have been pumping out content for many years.
Algorithms influence distribution.
How do you earn backlinks for your content?
As shown in the above article, the cost of content creation is increasing.
Distribution strategies matter.
Train tracks I liked this tweet:
That blog from 2 days ago?
— Ross Simmonds (@TheCoolestCool) January 7, 2020
Republish it on Medium
That video from 4 weeks ago?
Republish it natively on social
That research from 6 months ago?
Republish it as a PDF on LinkedIn
That podcast from a year ago?
Turn it into a video w. captions#DistributionOverEverythingWell, maybe not Medium… Their technical SEO is broken. I personally think WordPress is still a good option.
The tweet conveys the importance. You need to increase visibility. You must find ways to connect.
Bus and tram network Consider distribution strategies early, ideally when you are planning and creating the content:
- What keyphrases and questions will help this article to rank well in the SERPs?
- Did you look closely at the search intent?
- Always share the link on your social media properties (Organic Social).
- Can you spend some money on Paid Search and Paid Social to promote the content to your target audience?
- Can you add a podcast on the topic?
- Are you planning a video?
- Maybe, you could offer a webinar and share the slides and the recording?
- Brainstorm for ideas: How can you earn backlinks on high-quality sites?
- Build a simple newsletter and share new content with subscribers at regular intervals.
- Consider contacting journalists and getting relevant publications to write about you.
- Inform your sales team of new content. Encourage them to send out direct links to relevant content.
Velo courier at Basel’s main train station -
A weekend in Göteborg
Some snapshots and memories in this Flickr album.
La sfida commincia if you share, there are no calories Street art Patterns If you are strong, be kind -
Photowalk
I went photo-walking with the Basel Photography Meetup on Saturday. The theme was #Openings.
On my way into town, I saw this yellow monster. Nothing open about it. And very noisy.
I like this snapshot of openings within a gate:
This snapshot of some openings in this construction site scaffolding fits my likeable criteria equally well:
An enjoyable photo-walk thru Basel.
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“The boring flower snapshot” lives on
I noticed that searching for the phrase “the boring flower snapshot” still leads to some of my flower snaps on Google and Duck Duck Go.
Added some new snaps to my collection. So boring.
I think this is a great example how using links and relevant anchor texts consistently can help you rank for a specific phrase.
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Summer of 2019
There are so many beautiful poppies this year. I captured some impressions on Flickr. It must be the additional rain that causes poppies to bloom. The field next to Fondation Beyeler is red with flowers.
poppies in the wind stream -
Bicycle tour
then, i took part in this velo tour organized by the Swiss Architecture Museum and Open House Basel https://t.co/f6i17eQMqx
— ?…Collect this tweet (@nchenga) May 19, 2019I took part in a bicycle tour of public spaces and buildings in Basel. A highlight.
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La domenica sportiva
I went for a long slow run today. Along the Wiese river. Up to Bettingen. Via my favourite sawdust track (aka Finnenbahn) at Ausserberg. And, ending my run at the Kneipp facility in Riehen.
Feeling positive and blessed.
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Stacked
Took this snap of a stack of newspapers some time ago. I like the pattern.
a fave of mine: stacks of newspapers -
Tulip time
Planted several tulip bulbs last autumn. Reminds me of the tulip bubble.
At the peak of tulip mania, in February 1637, some single tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsworker.
Tulip Mania