Google cruel? Me stupid? Both?

Ever since i've put my website and this blog online i have been trying to figure out how come my website does not get any ranking of significance within Google's search results. The blog did get indexed fine according to Google Alerts. True, i was perhaps too fast throwing the website online, while i was still working on it, but what's going on?  I need people to find my website in order to find projects!

First try

At first i thought that the problems we caused by the fact that I initially denied all indexing by means of a robots.txt file. I did that so i could work on the content, show it to people and modify it until i was satisfied. I assumed Google had visited my website and had cached the indexing rules, therefore not reindexing my finished content. Consequently i tried to remove the site from Google's index and resubmitting it. That was about a month ago, but no luck ...

Then i started looking in the webmaster tool but the only thing that taught me was that Google assumed the site to have no real relevance and that indexing had occurred more than once without errors. So WTF is wrong with my website and why doesn't Google index it?

Then it hit me

I have loads of duplicate content! How dumb! As the website was a work in progress and i ambitiously wanted to have the site online in 3 languages (Dutch, English, Italian) i started of with only English content. I thought that way i would target the bigger audience. the framework i built my website on (built by myself) sports a CMS that is language aware. Culture is passed through the url of a resource. The sore spot seems to be that, if content is not available in the requested culture, the content is returned in the default culture. Hence ... duplicate content!

The plan

I stop postponing the chore of translating my website into Dutch and do it now. Then i'll remove the Italian selection for a while. Wait and see.

I'll inform you of the results in about a month, fingers crossed!

 

Update (20090202)

I finally figured out the cause. It was NOT Google, but me ... obviously. In Google's terminology it was 'a human error'. ;) The CMS i developed and used for my website, has page level as well as site level settings regarding caching and indexing. Even though i set the indexing to true for all relevant pages, i didn't at a site level. Consequently: true && false = false. Thus: No indexing. I have fixed this issue yesterday and i'm quite sure my site will soon appear in Google's indexes. 

Reality Check

Over the past month or so, I have been busy trying to find a gig. I have placed my profile on various freelance website and have called and mailed many contacts in my limited network. The first month has been one full of disappointments and disbelief: How come finding a project is so hard?

As I currently live in Naples, but used to live in Holland, my company (holding) is also based there. This means that in order not to break tax-laws, most of my work must be done for Dutch clients, so i've been told. Apparently people nowadays categorize freelancers into two categories:

• Those you want to physically sit in your office during the entire project. These freelancers are paid market conform fees;
• Those that can never physically work from within your office as they are located in far away places. These freelancers are financially deprived at will;

To me, Europe seems relatively small and fairly easy to travel. Customers however tend to categorize me in the latter category. Problem with that distinction is that they also assume that i'd be willing to work for rates that won't allow me to pay my bills by far. Many freelance websites sport only the 'poor' freelancers – not just developers – in order to serve as many clients they can with rates as low as possible.

Apparently having someone physically in the office at all times, gives the project owners a sense of security. I honestly do not understand why that is. I do however feel that regular face-2-face meetings will improve bonding and thus mutual understanding. In my opinion being physically at a specific location, leaving for home and meeting up again a few weeks later only improves productivity. Why?

• People thrive in their own trusted environment;
• Meeting up regularly, in stead of ad hoc/coffee-room, enforces thinking about planning;

Again I do believe in human interaction, but I think the internet allows us to communicate in so many ways, that pretending not being able to communicate is actually a sign of ignorance.

Surprising

What surprised me was the number of companies that make money, mediating between the potential clients and freelancers. It is a whole market I, in my ignorance, was not aware of. So far I have responded to about 50 projects and have registered myself on about 4 websites. The number of mails I receive from companies that want to add you to their database is astonishing, over 25!

As i'm looking for projects and they claim to be of help in that mission, I have no problem with these companies. At least, thats what I thought, until I started to ask questions. What really irritates  me is that they claim to make money by adding their fee to the freelancers rate … in theory. What they actually do is nogotiate a budget with the client and than pose a simple yes/no question.

Live and learn

After many disappointing responses, usually based on the fact that i'm not physically in Holland all the time, I did manage to get two projects. Strangely though, these projects do not involve any .NET! Apparently people (and they are right!) take my track record as a guarantee that I can cope with new techniques. To be honest, this is fun! I now have the chance to:

• Write scripts/code for use in EnCase (forensic software);
• Write an application for the Iphone, including submission to the AppStore;

I must admit that I didn't think that getting projects was this hard. I thought that after 11 years of work in the software development market as CTO and lead developer, with 8 years of .Net experience, that projects would be lining up. That was a cruel 'aha'-moment, but at least a lesson learned. Apparently what you have done, before freelancing, is no guarantee for good projects. It's all sales/acquisition and building up a freelance portfolio that counts.

Busy

Please don't let the above give you the impression I don't have anything useful to do with my time, while i'm not on my two projects. A new incarnation of Findsi is coming out mid 2009 I guess and it's going to be even more transparent in daily use. Moreover it is a 100% .NET project, allowing me to keep my skill up-to-date.  More about Findsi in another post.

10,9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ... lift-off

In my life I have done a lot of different things. Always willing to give new things a try. So to me, this is just a next (baby)step. As a software-development-a-holic I have read and still read many blog post. Strangely I have never felt the need to start one of my own.

Have I really been so preoccupied with things going on in my own little world? Have I been too ego-centric or arrogant to share my knowledge? Of course not! I guess I never felt up to the task or perhaps never thought I had something to share that was worth reading by anyone else but me.

Don't worry, this post is not going to be a sad story, nor an example of public self-criticism. I write this post as my 'letter to the world' so people know what to expect.

I have just recently taken the leap into a freelance career. After being self-employed and having managed a full-blown software company I decided to go back to my roots … software development, without all the corporate management hassle. As I'm new to this side of the table – I have hired many freelance developers in the past – I thought it might be fun sharing with other (potential) freelancers my experiences and adventures.

After taking the (tough) decision to part from the company I co-created, my huger for experiments and new techniques has arrived at a new all-time-high. I'm eagerly looking for a new challenge to dig my teeth in. Findsi (check it out here) has always given me a warm tingling feeling (within legal limitations) inside and I have several scrapbooks full of plans and innovative ideas that might take it to the next level. I'll write about our (it's not a one man show) ongoing voyage to technological perfection here as well.

Having developed for many years, the last few years solely using the .NET Framework, I think I have some tips and tricks to share that would make other developers life's a lot easier. Not only in terms of good/bad practices and codewise short-cuts, but also in terms of tools and software.

I might also write about my experiences with BlogEngine.NET, as I go along customizing it to my needs and wishes. Without trying to suck up to anyone, this program is solid and well thought through … compliments to the team.

Does an author actually need to explain his reasons for blogging? Does anyone ever read the first post, before reading other posts? I have no clue, but i'm bound to find out. Hopefully this blog will eventually turn out helpful to someone out there. If not, it might die out slowly, but at least I can than say that I gave it a shot and practiced my English a bit … ;)