I am the Kat that Walks By Itself

Hello, touching base everyone. I am still alive. Don't think that I only have to-do lists on the weekends, I have to-do lists 'most every day, I just post them private me-only posts. I find it helps me keep focused, and it is very satisfying to cross things off. And sometimes I post them non-private, like today, to let y'all know I'm still here and kind of what I'm doing. So hello. And this is a semi-important post, because it also includes my new monthly goals for a new month.

Here, have a to-do-list menu. ( cut for long list )

First, a drive-by rec for this podcast about procrastination. It's a proper scientific thing, interview with a psychologist who studies procrastination. Good stuff.

Second, I feel all organise-y today, probably because I woke up early, so I'm having a to-do-list menu to record stuff I may do and have done. ( cut for long list )

So, Etsy have changed their search algorithms and Marmalead have finally updated their interface to reflect this. (Marmalead is a web-app which helps with Etsy Search Engine Optimisation). This means that all of my listings have gone from a grade of A- to C+. What is worse, the best thing to improve this is not at all straightforward; it requires the one to imagine things that aren't there. To explain: what they want are "long tail keywords", that is, phrases which (a) accurately describe the item, (b) are phrases which very few other sellers are using, (c) which nonetheless are also phrases which customers are using for searching. Marmalead can tell you whether any given phrase fits the (b) and (c) criteria, but what it cannot do is suggest phrases to use which other people aren't using -- it just suggests the most common phrases which other sellers are using. So I just have to randomly think of phrases, like putting a pin into a page and trying to recreate Shakespeare.

So I'm rather depressed, and somewhat despairing. Here's my shop, take a look.

In the meantime, have a to-do list. ( cut for long list )

Edited to Add: Wonderful, now I'm being targeted by foriegn-language spam comments. (headdesk)