Bret Phillips

Rocking Optimized WordPress Posts – How to Write Them and Plugins that Help

bretwp — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:30:53 +0000

On Wednesday July 21st I am going to be presenting on best practices for Search Engine Optimization(SEO) using the WordPress platform.

This event is being hosted by the Atlanta WordPress on meetup.com at the Urban Oasis and is called “Rocking Optimized WordPress Posts: How to Write Them and Plugins that Help“.

Search Engine Optimization is something that I have been working with and researching for a few years now. Over time I have had some great success by testing the waters and seeing what does and does not work. I am really looking forward to sharing some of that knowledge with this group and also hope to learn some new things myself.

Using the WordPress platform is a great way to make your SEO life easier. During this presentation I will be showing everyone exactly where and how to optimize their website pages and posts, as well throwing out a few simple tips and tricks to help your chances of ranking high in the search engines.

These concepts that I will be going over are easy for anyone to pick up on, so people on all levels are welcome to come and learn.

If you are a SEO expert on your own, I would love to talk with you and share some ideas on methods, strategy, and whatever other interesting things we can talk about. Come out and “meet up”.

This event is open to everyone and will be a great networking evening for Atlanta business people.

RSVP here: http://www.meetup.com/wordpress-atlanta/calendar/13947621/

If you have any questions let me know.

See you then!

Hijacking Music Festival 2010 @ Lenny’s in Atlanta – Saturday July 17th

bretwp — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:05:55 +0000

If you havn’t heard me talking about my upcoming music festival, then I suppose I have not be talking loud enough!

Coming up this Saturday, July 17th, at Lenny’s in Atlanta, I am throwing my very first Music and Art FESTIVAL. That’s right…a FESTIVAL!

For a long time now, I have wanted to set up a music and art event that would bring together people from different scenes, outlooks, view points, etc. My personal music collection is broad, there is no one style of music that I listen to, I listen to all styles. I listen to GOOD music.

Good music is surely a personal taste thing, but being a musician, and understanding not only the fundamentals, but also theory, song writing, structure, and more, I know when music is unappealing on a musical level.

The thing is, I do not think I am alone in this. I am pretty confident that many people who really enjoy music for what it is, really enjoy good music. The problem is filtering through all the mediocre and terrible crap in order to find the really good stuff…and there is sooooo much music so I can see why people just give up and listen to whatever is on the radio, it’s easy.

The Hijacking Music Collective is some what of a filter for quality music here in Atlanta. The Hijacking Music Festival is taking that another step farther and bringing in other types of artists such as painters, photographers, dancers, and some other entertainers as well.

We want people that spend any amount of time at this event to be constantly bombarded with high quality visual and audible artwork that is stimulating, thoughtful, and creative. We want people to come out of their comfort zones and embrace something new that might change the way they view things in the future for the better.

Really, when it all boils down, we want to open some minds.

This is easily the largest event I have ever coordinated and put on and I am really looking forward to it and would LOVE to have your support.

Please come out and support an amazing local music and art scene here in Atlanta and party with us!

For more information about the Hijacking Music Festival, or to download a FREE Digital CD Sampler including all bands performing at the festival, visit: http://hijackingmusic.com/hijacking-music-festival-2010

Gardening, Fun in the Sun

bretwp — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:25:33 +0000

This year I attempted to start a little garden in my yard. It is nothing fancy, and definitely took me longer than it should have to actually get plants into the ground…but it has finally happened!

This particular spot in the yard was chosen because it gets quite a bit of sun during the day. We even did just a little limb hacking on some trees to open up the suns space a little more. One would think this is prime real estate if you were a “6+ hour sun light” plant.

Behind the garden is a bench. This bench was creatively covered in ’semi transparent’ deck stain…a few too many times and is now very white. I will say it definitely keeps the water out.

Just behind that is our fire pit. It is pretty large and in charge, but we can not use it until October =/

As you can see here, I have two 4 ft x 8 ft raised beds. They were a bit overgrown from not being tended to for about a month, so we had to do some weeding before we could even get some plants in there. Super High Quality photo images brought to you by blackberry storm.

I had thought about just tilling up a big section of the yard right there, but I figured using the beds would look a little cleaner, and also offer a little assistance in keeping critters out if/when I install some chicken wire fence around them…yes, chicken wire.

After just returning my parents weed eater back to them, I was left having to use a pair of gloves and hands to pull the weeds. With some help from my friends we knocked it out quickly.

In this photo you can see everything that we started with in order to create the garden.

Top Soil
Conditioner
Blue Berry Bush
Green/Red Bell Peppers
Jalapeno Pepper
Roma Tomato
Solar Fire Tomato(supposedly does well in heat)
Watermelon
Cucumber

Next step, spread out dirt and conditioner, then till it all up and mix with the existing dirt. This was intense but we definitely created a nice home for the new plants.

Done! Garden beds mixed and tilled, ready for plants. On the left are the Tomato’s, and Peppers. The two Tomato’s in the back were given to me by my parents and are not doing so great.

On the right you can see the Watermelon, Blue Berry, and Cucumber. Thinking about moving the Blue Berry to a location outside of the garden.

Below you will find my potted plants which are all doing great. Surprising considering every one of my attempts with them last year failed.

Basil x2, both purchased from farmers markets
Oregano, this died last year and grew back in the same pot
Cherry Tomato’s, sprouted by a friend of mine’s neighbor

Once the cherry tomato’s are a little larger, I think I am going to replace the two other failing tomato plants with them.

So there it is, my garden 2010. Hope you like it…hope it feeds me soon!

Are you growing anything? If so leave me a comment and tell me what it is. The same goes for any tips or tricks you might have that can help me out!

Speaking: Connecting WordPress with the Business Community

bretwp — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:36:35 +0000

This evening I will be speaking for a WordPress meetup on Connecting WordPress with the Business Community.

You can find the Meetup information here:

http://www.meetup.com/wordpress-atlanta/calendar/13854311/

We will be discussion the following:

What is WordPress?

WP is a Content Management System.

Some People right?

bretwp — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 12:30:50 +0000

Today I had two meetings in the first half of my day. One with a client that I’ve done some web development for, and one for an hour long swim lesson I was going to teach to two people.

I like to give back to my fellow man and teaching people a skill that will help them survive and also increase their fun level by millions really feels good.

After my first appointment, I called my second appointment, the swimming lessons. We spoke and I told them I would be there in 20 minutes.

20 minutes later I arrived at the location, an apartment complex with a pool(which by the way is a great place to start learning). Most of the time these pools are shallow from end to end so a new swimmer can always just ’stand up’ if they get scared.

Anyways, I arrive at 12pm as we had agreed upon and I gave them a call. Got the voice mail.

12:10 rolls around, I give them another call. Still the voice mail.

12:20 is coming up and I call again. Still no answer and I leave a voice mail.

Shortly after I get a call back. They are less than 2 minutes away and will be there asap. I can go through the leasing office and into the pool area…which I do.

After changing, I grab the kick boards and head to the water. They are still not there so I just get in and start swimming some laps.

12:30 and still nothing. Just me and a small family hanging out in the pool. I continue swimming laps.

12:35 I check and still no call back, no sign of them. So I swim some more laps.

Ah ha! It looks like two people that could be my people. Sweet, 40 minutes late but at least there are here, we can get started.

I will teach them how to swim, a skill everyone should have for safety and fun! In exchange they will pay me in money.

They walk down to the pool area, one in a bathing suit ready to rock, the other in shorts and a t-shirt. I ask them if it was in fact them and they agreed.

Jokingly, and I said something like “well great, I’m glad you are here, hop on in because we only have like 20 minutes right?”

1 hour long lesson, we agree to meet at 12pm, I arrive at 12pm, they arrive at 12:40pm…the math is in there.

Anyway, the person I had been speaking to went back to their car for a second to ‘get something’. I continue swimming laps.

I swim away, swim back, swim away, and on my way back this time, I notice both of them are back in their car driving away!

Staring right at me!

I swam back to my stuff and gave them a call then left them a message to the tune of “I appologize for wasting your time. Please give me a call if and when you are actually serious about learning to swim, have a good day.”

Sure I was stewing but I would have felt like an idiot if I had ‘gone off’ on them for being the kind of people they are. It wouldn’t have changed them so I saved my breath and kept it professional.

My first mistake was not having them pay me before I drove out there. The location is really far from where I live, but was fairly close to where my first appointment was at. I can easily accept online payments, even from credit cards, so there is no reason that I should have not been paid for my hours of waiting around at that pool.

Anyway, like I was saying….Some People right?