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25
October
Question: What do you get when you go to google image search and type in some of the following terms: curvy pin up, plus size pin up, rockabilly pin up, plus size model, or sexy eye make up?
Answer: ME!
That’s right my dahlins’! I am DOMINATING google image search right now. My modeling and make up pictures are getting over 2,000 unique views a day, and it’s all thanks to a little thing called SEO.
I started getting tons of offers again to do shoots here in Baltimore for pin up couture, burlesque, and even some requests for art shoots and MUA assistance. When the requests kept pouring in over the past month I decided to investigate and see what was causing all the ruckus. Well, it turns out my link building and keyword research efforts finally paid off, because mama is ranking EXTREMELY well in the image search. 
Have a look at these pics below to see where I am in the first few pages of Google’s results. They might vary by a few spots depending on what data center you’re checking from, but either way, I’m ALL OVER the first page for some of my most competitive terms! Check it out:
First Page for “curvy pin up” Which gets about 1,500 monthly searches
First Page for “rockabilly pin up” Which gets about 2,000 monthly searches (holy shit! I’m beating a picture of BERNIE DEXTER for rockabilly pin up??? love it!)
First Page DOUBLE LISTING for “plus size pin up” Which gets about 4,000 monthly searches (can you believe this? Ranked above kerosene delux and beth ditto from the gossip. Holy. SHIT)
First Page for “sexy eye make up” Which gets about 4,400 monthly searches
***And my biggest result…that I think is driving most of my traffic is:
4th page for “plus size model” which gets about 74,500 monthly searches!
Holy Guacamole! I have to say a big ups to Customer Magnetism. I learned so much about optimization and analytics while I was there, and without that knowledge I wouldn’t be able to do what I do now. Thanks tryCM for teaching me the Jedi ways of SEO, and helping to develop my love for web search.
It sucks I’m so busy, because I would love to take everyone up on their offers for shoots. At this point I’m going to have to go to very selective TFP or TFCD, and of course, I’m taking paid shoot opportunities as they come up. Thanks to these results, I’m getting much more of them Sorry for nerdin’ out on you guys! But I had to share, I was so stoked about it.
I’m in your Google… DOMINATING the results!
<3
z
Category: Explorations in SEO, Make Up, Modeling
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21
October
This is a short documentation of a much longer video installation currently showing in the Fox 3 Gallery at The Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD. As part of the MFA show for Photographic and Electronic Media, this piece deals with a few topics that my work has been tackling recently. The 4 channel video installation shows layers of beauty, self image, and narcissistic rituals as they relate to social media and social networking sites. Why is the image on the right more beautiful than the image on the left? Well, because the comments say so. It sets up women to get trapped in the daily ritual of makeup application. Part narcissism, part exhibitionism, and part addiction, these are the forces that drive beauty stereotypes in real life and via the web.
Original run time of 36:07 minutes, the piece shows one long take of the process of getting “beautiful”. The video plays on an unending loop for the duration of the gallery exhibit.
Staring out as a way to feel better about oneself, then getting sucked in the gratification of comments and encouragement via social media can trap women in the web of “needing” to feel beautiful and striving for that attention. It was fun to explore the opportunities to play with beauty stereotypes and what constitutes beauty via the social standards of the net. This is the first part of a series I intend to complete and display which will focus not only on makeup and the face, but body image as well.
Category: Make Up, Videos
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02
September
For those of you who know me, you know I am in my first semester of my graduate study at MICA. As a new student, I’ve been searching for inspiration for my new work, which I hope will help me to explore my world and expand as an artist. But, as I trolled through the deepest corners of the internet, and connected with my networks via Twitter, Facebook, and Myspace…I realized something. The WAY in which I was looking for subject matter WAS the subject matter I was searching for.
Social Media IS the subject I want to work in. I find it both curious and exhilarating how people use social media. Everyone has a different style, persona, and goal they are working towards when they engage in social media contact. But the point is that social media, specifically Twitter, has become an increasingly important part of the lives of it’s users.
So, I decided to switch gears and do a little research on the Psychology of Twitter. This particular social network strikes a cord with me because of the endless ways in which people use it. Twitter allows you a maximum of 140 characters, and upon starting, asks you to answer the question: “What Are You Doing?” This very open ended brevity creates an interesting interaction for its users. Some people tweet about things that are inconsequential, like what they ate for breakfast, or how the weather changed their mood. These seemingly random, and trivial statements paint an interesting portrait of the users. Why do we feel a need to share this information? Moreover, why do we feel the need to share this information online?
These random thoughts, statements, and questions bring me to the real need that Twitter serves for its users: recognition. I Tweet, Therefore I am. I exist. What is so exciting and different about Twitter as a social network, is that it feeds our primary social needs for interaction, belonging, and connection without the limitations of friend lists and profile pages. Humans need social interaction, and Twitter allows this interaction to happen very differently than other social networks. When you tweet, that information becomes a part of a real-time stream of human life. At any given moment, anyone can read and respond to your thoughts with a brief message of their own. This can happen instantly, creating a dialogue between people that would not exist otherwise. Twitter offers small glimpses into the lives of people who use it, and as such works like a giant, real-time social media painting. Everyone who tweets adds something new to the canvas, and we recognize his or her presence by reading, or responding. They “are” because they Tweet.
For my project, I’d like to take that recognition a step further. I plan to create small multi-media pieces based on the tweets people send out. You Are What You Tweet will be a project dedicated to validating the trivial, small, inconsequential ideas that people share via Twitter, by creating art about individual messages tweeted. There is beauty in all things, and artists have spent decades creating work based on what normal social circles deem “trivial”. So, since Twitter is now the new media why in which people broadcast their lives, (from the eventful to the trivial) it will be the focal point of my new work.
But I need your help! Please follow me on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/zerbetron. When you Tweet something you’d like to be a part of You Are What You Tweet please include #urwut somewhere in the tweet. (Think of it like “your” “what”. U R What U Tweet. Get it? ) I will be following the #urwut Twitter stream and recording the tweets as the come in. As more tweets come in, I will start selecting some to create pieces based on. If your tweet is chosen, I will contact you via twitter and include a link to the piece so you can view it and share it with others if you like.
Remember this project is about YOU. I hope to see it grow, and become a telling project of the people who use social media to paint a portrait of their lives. We are here, and we are worth being heard. Help me spread the word. I’m looking forward to reading what you have to say.
If you’ve got any questions, feel free to contact me!
Tweet On,
zerbeTRON
Category: Explorations in SEO, Portfolio
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21
August
Oh. My. God. Those three words have been spoken so much in the last week it’s not EVEN funny. Don’t get me wrong. I’m STOKED to be in Baltimore. My orientation is Monday, and classes start very soon. Steven got his jobs transferred and he goes back to work tomorrow. And the city, well…they don’t call it Charm City for nuthin’! There is so much to do in our little neck of the woods. We’re on the edge of Charles Village. It’s a transitioning neighborhood and a walker’s paradise. We can walk to everything we need, including the school, which is 5 blocks away in the Station North Arts District. So at first glance, our little row home on this quiet block seems perfect.
“Seems” being the operative word.
Steve and I fell in love with the charming little house on Hunter Street as soon as we saw it online. Once we took a walk through one of the finished models, we knew it was the right place for us. We put down a security deposit and thought we’d found a perfect place to call home for the next two years! A few weeks after we paid the deposit, we made arrangements to come up and see our actual finished home and sign the lease…or so we thought.
We arrived to find that it was in complete and utter disarray. Rubble and debris still inside, nothing had been installed, nothing was finished…it was a complete wreck. But the property manager ASSURED us that it would all be taken care of by our move in date of August 15th, and that we shouldn’t worry.
So we signed the lease, and went back home to Va Beach.
I wasn’t so convinced they could complete all the work in the 3 short weeks until our move in date, so I emailed them once a week every week to check on the progress. Every time I was assured it would be ready for occupancy, and told not to worry.
Then the move in day comes. Steven and my family caravanned in the heat 4.5 hours to get to our new home…only to find power tools on our front steps and MEN STILL INSIDE WORKING! Holy shit I flipped out. When the property manager pulled up to meet us and give us the keys I asked him why the hell there were still people working on our house. And get this shit….he had the audacity to get a shitty attitude with me! Like it was somehow MY FAULT they didn’t do their fucking jobs!
Again, standing there looking me in the eye, this man assured me it was a few “minor” issues and that it would all be taken care of promptly. He said word for word “there are no major problems”.
Well that was a crock of shit.
Let me give you a little run down of the issues the house has had in the short week we’ve lived here:
-huge open holes in the back part of the basement wall (issue for rats and bugs) you can see straight outside
-no washer or dryer (MAJOR issue. We cannot clean our clothes)
-open and exposed electrical plates in the front part of the basement (safety issue)
-electrical problems in the kitchen: overhead light does not turn all the way on
-stove does not work (MAJOR issue. How can you live somewhere you cannot prepare food?)
-no light above the stove
-kitchen cabinets weren’t finished being installed
-no peep hole in the front door (HUGE issue living in a city!)
-plaster stains and prints all over the floors. It has not been properly cleaned
-hand prints all over the windows. They have not been properly cleaned
-the stairs in the back yard have not been mounted to the wall, they are just sitting there. (this proved to be dangerous during the move in process)
-Stairs in the front and the back have not been painted (covered in rust and grit from the workers)
-There is no lock/latch to the back gate leading out to the alley (major security issue)
-There is no latch for the basement door
-huge cracks in the caulking around the tub in the bathroom
-the tile base board has not been finished in the bathroom
-holes in the bathroom wall
-lower hand rail on the stairs inside fell off because it is not mounted to a stud!(safety issue)
-BRINKS SECURITY IS NOT INSTALLED!!!! (HUGE safety issue! One of the major reasons we chose this place…)
-The walls have not been painted or touched up.
-The space under the stairs in the basement is not finished
-The ceiling in the basement is uneven because the electrical cord for the fire alarm is not long enough to reach
-There are openings in the ceiling in the basement closest to the stairs, again major issue for outdoor critters trying to get in
-No bars or lock on the back basement window
-blinds were installed incorrectly in the living room, kitchen, and office.
-The ice marker does not work.
-No light bulb in the backyard security light (safety issue)
Those were just the issues we noticed when we first started moving in. The later, after getting all our belongings into the place, we noticed some other MAJOR issues…
The plumbing did not work when we moved in! Steve and I got ready to get in the shower only to find that when we started running the water, the kitchen sink downstairs started to fill will water and sewage. That’s right. SEWAGE. They had to come out and fix all the piping because it wasn’t done before we moved in. We couldn’t bathe, or brush our teeth, or use the restroom for almost an ENTIRE day. Note the picture below showing the sink FULL OF SEWAGE WATER
Then we discovered the stove didn’t work. Some winner tried to shove the plug into an outlet the wrong size and they had to replace the cord. Well, that SEEMED like an easy fix. Except we have some major electrical issues and cannot use the stove until the power company comes out to RE-INSPECT the electric in the house. Yep. That would be my mom’s hand on the stove top with the stove turned on HIGH.
So we moved into a house where we couldn’t cook, bathe, or clean our clothes.
Fucking Awesome.
When I expressed my concern for this, I was told to use a laundry mat. I find this response to be as equally discernible as it is unacceptable. It’s a city. I’m well aware there are laundry mats here…but laundry services are a part of our rental agreement. Just as the Brinks Home Security is a part of rental agreement. We signed a legal document, which the rental company has broken. If we decided to, we would be well within our legal right to default and break this lease.
Believe me, we’ve thought about it.
The power people have come out and shut off our power every day for the past three days. So in the middle of the day, in this GAWD AWFUL heat, we were without power for hours at a time…And today we found out that the power company wouldn’t be out to fix the issue completely until next Thursday.
Thursday they came out to install the washer and dryer. We were at least a little relieved that something was going right…or so it seemed. We ran the dryer once before it completely crapped out. It won’t turn on at all now. So, I’m assuming it was installed wrong (just like everything else has been so far…) That’s great since my wet clothes will now smell like mildew. Yay.
I don’t know if I want to scream, or laugh, or cry. I’m so angry and frustrated it’s not even funny. I truly feel like we were sold a “lemon” and I’m not sure what to do about it. I’m trying to be patient…but if they don’t compensate us to our satisfaction than I will be forced to pursue legal action. It just SUCKS to have to do this right now when I should be focusing on getting ready for classes to start. But I will. I will take them to court if I have to, because I will not just role over and get fucked by someone else’s incompetence. Sorry. Just not gonna do it.
So, that’s my first week in Baltimore. One major fucking issue after another. It’s something else every day. But, here is hoping things will start looking up. I could use some good news right about now.
Category: Just For Fun
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