Website Updates

Welcome to this update page where I will discuss my website and the updates I am engaged in. You may or may not find these notes of interest but I hope you do.

The purpose of this page is to keep you updated as to the enhancements I am making to my site. Enhancements such as new pages and either new or updated information on topics discussed within this site. So if you are interested in what I am doing great, if not, well I must assume you will not be reading this page. Granted it won't be fancy, just basic information.

The changes listed here are from the newest to the oldest by the date I completed them and updated the site. It provides a written record of the evolution of this site as it grows and expands to help you.

Latest Updates

February 11, 2012

Well after a long period of negativity I decided I better get back on the horse and continue riding. Yeah I got thrown off and my ego got really bruised but time to continue on.

During my "down" time I reformulated my plan somewhat and I'm in in the process of incorporating it now. Some of the enhancements I've made is an update to the Travel Page. I added links you should find interesting and helpful. I did some minor updates to some other pages as well to help make them more useful as well. As far as other major changes, there are none, but that doesn't mean they aren't in work.

This website is evolving into something bigger than self. I intended it to be that way so I am not disappointed at all. In the process of improving I began working on a Vision and Mission statement. I am now crystal clear on where this website is going.

I'm not ready to release that information just yet as I am still working on it. But soon I will post in the Welcome Page, as well as provide a PDF of it.

That completes the latest and greatest news for this update. Thanks for visiting and don't forget to tell you friends about The Politics of Self-Improvement.

January 22, 2012

The first entry of the new year. I keep reminding myself this page is for webpage updates, not commentary. Sometimes I lose track and want to write some ideas, frustrations here and not on the pages they belong.

I'm in the process of making changes to the website but for time being I'm doing under-the-hood enhancements. I'm making corrections to mistakes I made when I first developed the website which taught me ignorance can be painful.

Why the enhancements? To help search engines find me faster. By keeping a lean and trim code the search engines can find and index my pages faster and easier. What is not apparent to the human is very apparent to electrons. If you ever decide to design a webpage you should keep this little thought in mind as it can save you hours of work later.

In past updates you will find that I am always mentioning under-the-hood refinements. The reason for that is simple as well: search engines evolve and your code has to evolve with them if you want to be found and not listed number 4,536,347th in the search results. Thus one of the main lessons I learned in 2011, keep the code lean and mean.

I've added a new screenplay called Jack Creek to the site. As with the other screenplay downloads it is copyrighted and registered with the WGA. The file is also protected (which really doesn't mean much) but it does make it more difficult to copy and use my work with someone else taking the credit. I guess I'm just too trusting.

I'm in the process of adding new pages to the site. I have established a workable schedule and established quarterly timelines. Hence if I remain on schedule I should have the new pages up and going by the end of March. In addition changes to existing pages are happening and if you investigate the website regularly you will notice them. These changes occur as I complete them.

That does it for this update. Please enjoy the website and don't forget to tell your friends, acquaintances, and contacts about us.

December 28, 2011

This will be my last update for 2011. As I look back on the year and the development of this website I realize just how far I have come. I launched this site in about mid-May of this year and I am amazed at how far I have brought it. Most of what I wanted it to be has materialized, most but not all. Still those items I missed in 2011 will come into being in 2012.

I have a lot of plans for this site in 2012 but 2011 taught me a valuable lesson. All the plans I had were too aggressive and I was forced to slow down. Hence some items did not get incorporated. But that's ok because they are still on the schedule to get done. What got in the way was life. Earning a living, taking care of family matters, and meeting life head-on takes time, so it was I sacrificed some of my schedule to take care of life.

The lesson I learned was to slow down a little. I'm too old to take on the world these days, I need to spread it out to a few weeks at least. So it is, so it was.

What you can look forward to:

New pages. I intend to add new pages to the website, important pages, interesting pages, maybe even some humorous pages. Some pages are already in work, some are just ideas.

Greater emphasizes on my technical writing. I am a freelance writer and I really need to sell that skill so you can expect more on that matter in the weeks ahead.

The election of 2012. I intend to voice my opinion on this the most important election our nation has ever faced. And I don't plan to pull punches.

I hope to put some surprises into this website this year. Only time will tell because I never know how I am going to surprise me.

With all that said I wish you a happy new year and I will catch you on the flip side of 2012.

December 03, 2011

Over the last few weeks I've been doing some heavy work. Unfortunately not on website. My regular job keeps getting in my way. Pay the bills or do the website. Decisions, decisions.

Still I've been able to perform some updates to various pages of the site. Small changes but necessary ones.

I'm making plans and setting strategy for the upcoming year. I'm going to add new pages, continue updates to existing ones and incorporate a few more items I'm considering. It's going to be an exciting year for GP McClure and Associates. I hope you continue to stay tuned in for all new developments.

The focus of the website stays the same, The Politics of Self-Improvement, and with the upcoming elections I'm going to begin writing more focused opinion pieces for the blog. This next year will see me move away from generalities and towards accountability of our elected leaders. There are plenty of news sources for me to tap into and I have a to say on the subject. But all in good time.

With Christmas approaching my plan to convert to a holiday theme has not materialized as well (make that not at all) as I envisioned it to. I contribute that to lack of knowledge for website design. Training is another area I intend to approach this coming year as I have strong opinions about that subject as well.

One of my weakest areas I am focusing on still remains lack of visitors. I have a few thousand but not near what I want. Again I attribute this to lack of knowledge and will be addressing this issue for myself with much more intensity. I'm doing something wrong and I need to figure out what it is.

So thank you, those that read these words, and there are few of you, I am working to maintain interesting subjects and strong opinions, and I hope you find the topics helpful and encouraging.

November 13, 2011

I've added a new section to the sidebar of the home page called UPDATED PAGES. These are links which send you directly to the updated page(s). If there were minor changes to the page I won't list them but if I made a major change then I will put a link here for at least a couple of weeks.

I am making changes to the various pages of the website, the major one being the secondary menu bar. I have decided to add a sidebar and move the secondary menu bar items here. It requires an overhaul of the webpage, under the hood stuff but I think it makes for a more professional style. It also allows additional room for new regular links and affiliate links. It will take time to make a complete change over for the entire site, but it will be worth it. I'm still in the grip of growing pains and as the website matures I am figuring out how to improve it.

I added a new affiliate, which I am really proud to be associated with. I have done a lot of business with Nightingale-Conant over the years as they have been the foundation of my self-awareness. They produce some of the greatest motivational material on the face of the planet. Earl Nightingale, one of the founders, has imparted words of wisdom which still resonate with me long after his death. I hope they do the same for you.

I've been looking at the holiday themes and while I have found many that I like I discovered that I am having difficulty incorporating them into my website in a tasteful and elegant manner. Without a revamp of many of the existing pages it may be extremely difficult to incorporate the effects I want to achieve. Not impossible but when I look at the return of time investment needed it may not be cost effective for me. This stage is after all only temporary. Still I have not abandoned the idea, I just need to figure out how to do it in a cost effective manner.

I've had several ideas over the last couple of weeks concerning the website and began experimenting with them. What appeared good on paper wasn't really all that good in reality. But changes and updates is part of the fun of creating and maintaining this website.

The eBook/shopping cart idea is still in work but the number of visitors still won't support the concept yet. Hence I decided to hold off for a tab bit more before making the big leap. At this stage of development I would only be wasting money, something I refuse to do. The shopping cart is coming, but only when I can justify the expense. So the lesson for me is to focus on increasing my search engine rankings to get more visitors.

For the few of you who do visit me, I thank you and I am working to maintain fresh and unique material. I admit my niche is different from what others may have, but I firmly and completely believe that what I have to offer is vital to individual development and self-reliance. To meet my goal I adjust where I have to and when I have to. I could say this was hard work but the reality is I have such a passion for what I am attempting I don't consider it work, just an adventure. So thank you for joining me on this trip I am taking.

October 30, 2011

You may have noticed that I did some revamp of the home page. I moved a lot of static data to a new WELCOME WINDOW page. Since this information is not subject to change very often I decided to free up some home page real-estate so the message stands out better.

I am in the process of adding a shopping cart to the website and if I stay on target that should be up and running next week. Right now I only have one eBook to sell but I'm working on more.

The holidays are coming and I am starting to formulate my holiday theme. I am seeking classic but tasteful themes, something that speaks "I am proud to be an American" and says it in volumes. None of this "progressive" crap for me, I'm old fashion and proud to be so. After all it was the "values" of yesterday that made America great and it is the "progressives" of today who are destroying us.

Other changes were just tweaks to various pages, small changes to enhance the content. Which reminds me, be sure to check out the popups and I encourage you to apply their message to your own life. After all you are better than you think you are.

October 23, 2011

I added two popup windows on the home page. To access them JavaScript/blocked content needs to be enabled. However the website runs just fine if you don't want to enable these items. The popup windows contain motivation questions and self-motivators designed to help you help yourself, just like they are helping me. My plan is to update them once a week as I have discovered that it takes about a week for a good motivator to really sink in.

To that end on the Motivation page I added two new downloads concerning self-improvement. I hope you find them useful.

As I mentioned last update changes are in the work, the most important being the menu system. I think I'm going to have to go with a dynamic html menu system. Of course there is a little problem with that: I don't know how to make one -- Yet.

Everything on this website I created. I control the direction, I control the content. I am responsible for all of it. I am not a web programmer, I'm a technical writer, but I know how to learn, I know what I must learn, and I know how to find information. I also know how to apply what I learn to the project at hand.

Changes for the future, as this time, but may be subject to change, include a military page, a health page, and the holiday pages. If I want to do the holiday pages those need to come up now or within the next couple of weeks at the latest. Of course other pages are on my mind as well as updates to the Motivation page.

As I mentioned this site is constantly growing and evolving and this page is designed to keep you posted of those updates.

October 17,2011

The next time I update this page I think I'm going to begin splitting it off into additional pages. I don't want this page to get so long that it takes forever to get to the first update message.

The month of September and some of October was not my greatest months as far as this website is concerned. I had a minor physical ailment that pretty much benched me and kept me from using a keyboard for most of the month. When I thought I was getting better, not really. Not good when your livelihood depends on using the computer for your paycheck. At any rate the pain is almost gone and I am back to improving this site.

One of the items that has to change is the menu system. My current menu style is not very efficient so I am working on it make it much better. However it will take time to incorporate the changes I want to make regarding this issue.

Another change I want to make is to add a Health page. I want to discuss some of the items that afflict me in my young (60+ years) age. Heck if I had know I was going to have this many problems with my body I would have beaten the heck out of it when I was young, at least I could say I had something to show for my young stupidity. But no, I had to take care of myself and I still have all these issues. But more on that much later down the pike.

Most of what I am doing with the website is posted on the Index (Home) page so I'm not going to repeat that message here. However I will say that I am working on some eBooks and investigating how I will sell them. I'm also working on my website schedule, revamping those thoughts to become more in line with this course correction I am now making. Only time will determine if this works or not. That and a lot of prayer.

I did pick up three new affiliates. I was offered more but declined them as they really didn't meet my standards of excellence. I'm proud to say these three did. You can find their links in these pages and on the Affiliate webpage. (Sorry no direct link from here.)

My blog has taken a big hit as I haven't updated that for a month now. I have changes in mind for that as well and will get to them soon.

I encourage you to keep coming back to investigate what new features and articles I have posted. I may surprise you, I surprise me all the time.

September 18, 2011

Changes, changes and more changes. I look at my latest stats and realize that I am going nowhere fast, in fact I'm going nowhere faster than fast. So what am I doing wrong?

That question has plagued me for a few weeks now unfortunately I've been unable to think clearly these last couple of weeks in order to come up with a solution. If you have kept up with my blog you know that I've suffered a minor physical ailment which pretty much benched me. I don't know which was worse the pain or the meds to control the pain. At any rate the issue, while still with me is going away allowing me to get back to the task of developing this website.

So what is my current problem? Simple - no visitors. Can't get any simpler than that. My challenge: to get visitors. How? Now that is the multi-million dollar question: How.

I sat down and revised my website development plan. I didn't change much in the way of additions or subtractions, but I did move several items around. I gave them different due dates and clarified their function. I reset both my timeline and focus. The way I was going was not working so something had to change. I knew it wasn't working when the visitors I had in the past didn't return and my numbers have gone steadily down.

This brought up a series of thoughts about what I want this website to accomplish and exactly who my target audience should be. Now as of this writing I am still struggling with an answer to this question. I admit it I'm stumped, for the moment.

I lost half of September because of this physical ailment, nothing I can do about that, but now that I'm getting back I can begin to really focus on what I want. So what am I doing about it and what is it I really want?

For starters I am writing a ton of notes to myself which will go into a journal type document. At the appropriate time I will publish this document for all to read. Should you have a desire to do so.

Next, I realized that this endeavor is a part time event for me. The only time constraints I have are the ones I placed on myself. Now don't get me wrong without a time limit then all this is for nothing. That is nothing would get done if I didn't push myself to do it. Time limits become the tool necessary to ensure I measure my progress but if necessary they can be adjusted as needed.

I was trying to do so much in a short period of time I actually got sloppy and didn't think things through the way I should have. The results, I started off great but now, now I am lagging something fierce. And that's not really good.

I have a lot of tools at my disposal but learning to use them effectively can be a challenge. But more than that I have always been weak in strategic thinking. It is a skill that I never really mastered in my youth and that lack of knowledge has been a bane to my success. But... but it is a skill that can be learned if one is willing to take the time to learn it. No piece of software can ever take the place of that lobe of mass between your ears. When you recognize that fact, then you can, and you will open yourself up to a new world of opportunities and adventure.

August 28, 2011

Sometimes I think I may be my own worse enemy. I know others think the same sometimes and the thought generally occurs when we make a stupid mistake which causes a ripple effect and creates more work than necessary.

Enter my latest mess. A conflict occurred within the website so I corrected it, the result: a lot of broken links. I corrected the conflict but the mess I created has caused the Tylenol market to explode. What a headache, and kicker is it wasn't necessary.

I have spent time correcting the issue but the damage is done and the end user, that is you the visitor, becomes the recipient of my stupidity.

So where am I at? I've corrected the broken links, at least I think I have but I may have missed one or two. If you come across one of these broken links rest assure that I will find them all and correct them. But I also encourage you to send me an email to my feedback email address telling me on what page you discovered the broken link on. I would really appreciate it.

I learned a lot of lessons with this mistake, a mistake I will not repeat again. But the development of this website is a growing process not to mention a learning experience.

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