Thursday, April 24, 2008

Link building for a photo web site

It’s really not as bad as people say, it takes some time but I actually like to do “link building” for my web site. Surfing around trying to navigate the depths of the internet and finding new places. And making a benefit out of it, hopefully.

What benefit?
Well, I’ve now spent several years taking pictures and I think I have about 500 images on my web site. Now I’d like to get some more visitors, not just people looking to hire a photographer in Nepal, but also the “general public”, the silent internet masses surfing around looking for whatever it is they’re seeking. Some of them might occasionally order a poster or something, but that’s not the main point here. If I can get a lot of traffic to my site, it’ll sort of bring some more life to the whole project. Comments, suggestions, more links, referrals etc. I might even start to sell add-space! Getting a diverse audience is part of my own little strategy, since it’ll hopefully make me less reliant on the random fluctuations of any one single market. I’ve never gone to any business school, but I do know that it’s dangerous to rely on just a few customers. Several staff photographers are being laid off these days, they’ve had comfortable jobs for decades now and just forgotten how reliant they’ve become on that one particular job and how difficult it has become to get your foot in another place. That’s not gonna happen to me!

Hence the efforts to make my web site more visible to all sorts of people. That spells making it show up in Google searches. On the first page, not listed on page 17 or something. It’s common knowledge that hardly anyone’s gonna click on your site link if you’re not on the first page. Your placement on Google is determined by your PageRank, which again is determined by the number (and quality) of other sites linking to your site.

Right now my Google PageRank is a disgrace: 1. It used to be 3 and I’m not sure what happened. But I’m determined to get it at least back to where it used to be. PR4 would be quite good, PR5 would be fantastic!

Now there’s many ways to get links to your site and improve your Google PageRank, one of the simplest ways is to get listed in various web directories. That’s what I’ve been trying to do the last few days. If you want to do the same for your site, check out this list of free photo-related web directories I’m using. (- It’s also good if you just want to browse around and see a lot of nice photo sites.)

My efforts are not over yet and it’ll take some time before the results start to show. Check back here from time to time if you’re as interested as me to see how it’ll all turn out.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Nepal: Post-election thoughts


Maoist supporter holding up their well-know symbol.
© Morten Svenningsen 2008


While the ballots are still being counted, it is now safe to say that the Maoists were the big winners of last week constituent assembly election here in Nepal. They’ve secured more than half of the seats in the first-past-the-post election constituency that’s been counted so far (114 out of 207) and about a third of the votes in the proportional representation election so far. If this tendency holds, they stand to get about 250 of the 601 seats in the new all-powerful assembly. It’s not impossible that they will actually get a bit more, giving them an absolute majority! A bit of a shocker to everyone, themselves included I’m sure, despite what some of them have been saying.

The election day went by quite peacefully although the days leading up to it was marred by some violence, with 5 or 6 people killed in various clashes that threatened to make it look like Kenya for a while. But were some of the votes given under duress? These allegations are starting to appear from various quarters, most notably Minister Mahat of the still ruling Congress party who stands to loose control over the government. Re-polling still have to take place in almost a 100 polling stations where the election was cancelled due to irregularities. But by and large, whatever happens, it seems that the election results are being accepted as “free and fair”, if not 100% then at least close enough - enough to accept the election result and continue with the next step.

So what is the next step? Well, first there’s been some “bad omens” here, in the highly superstitious country. Just after Maoist leader Prachanda gave his victory speech, a virulent storm descended on the valley, chasing everybody into shelter. A day later, a 100 feet high pole fell down and injured 12 people during a festival. Same thing happened just before the 2001 royal massacre. And in Bhaktapur where I was celebrating Nepalese New Year, the crowd had to abandon the chariot before it had completed it’s ritual journey (it’s a long explanation). They sacrificed a few roosters the next morning so maybe it’s all cool with the Gods now.

No, seriously, it’s now unavoidable: They’re gonna turn this country into a (communist) republic and abolish the monarchy. (Personally, I can’t wait to see what’s gonna happen to the king!) Then they’ll rewrite the constitution and start to run this country in some way. That’s also gonna be really interesting to witness.

I can’t help but think how the Maoists are gonna manage the task, if they’re up to it. So far their activities have been mostly of a destructive nature, being against the establishment and this and that. Now they are the establishment and they have to show themselves constructive in rebuilding the country and delivering on their promises. I don’t want to be too pessimistic, but I am afraid that they will disappoint the optimistic population who have just given them the chance they have been asking for to lead the country (and turn it into an Asian Switzerland in 10 years, remember Prachanda actually said that?-). Again, with risk of being too much a generalist, some of these voters are really politically naive, IMHO. The Maoists don’t have a magic wand to make it all better overnight and, what’s more interesting, do they have control over their rank and file? - And can they now control and manage the nation and it’s administration without resorting to high-handedness?

Well, maybe they can pull it off. They’ve now got the chance no matter why people voted for them. In fact it might be more correct to say that the people voted, not for the Maoists, but against the old NC and UML party bosses. So from next month, I’ll probably be living in a communist republic! Whooo, what’s that gonna be like?

Saturday, April 5, 2008

A time to vote


Nepal deciding on monarchy. Well, sort of. At least in final preparations for holding election to a constituent assembly.
Photo © Morten Svenningsen.

Everybody’s talking ‘bout it here, so thought I’d give you my perspective as well...


We’re entering into uncertain times here in Nepal - again. It’s just 5 days to the election here, and it’s by no means an ordinary one. In fact, it can turn out to be a historic milestone in the country’s path towards democracy. Or it can turn out to be the spark that ignites new strife and civil war. My guess is it’ll turn out to be a little bit of both, typical Nepali style, neither this nor that, yes and no at the same time!


The fact that it’s an important event is not hard to miss. No matter who you talk to these days, the subject always turns to the election. And it seems every office you call, you get the same answer: Come back after the election! Four public holidays have been declared next week, schools closed for two weeks, the border with India sealed for 48 hours, alcohol banned on election day and the city here (Kathmandu) is buzzing with speeches coming out of distorting loudspeakers and international reporters and observers etc. Even good old Jimmy Carter is on his way here.

No, there’s definitely something special going on in Nepal these days!


Personally, I’m hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. The election itself can easily be marred by violence and bomb blasts, but it now seems unstoppable, unlike the previous two occasions where it was postponed - not to mention the general mess when the previous election term expired and they weren’t capable / willing to hold a new one.

So OK, the election is coming and besides the actual election results, there’s some other interesting points up in the air:


What’s the election aftermath going to look like?
- Hopefully not Kenya! While the first election results should start to tick in in the ensuing days, we’ll probably have to wait several weeks for the final result - perhaps even months. The country will be in a state of limbo, and there’ll be plenty of opportunity for disgruntled election losers to stir up trouble in the streets. For instance (but not excluding others) the Maoists have already stated that, since they are sure to win, any other result must be equal to fraud and rigged results by the usual “regressive forces etc.”, and therefore completely unacceptable!

Irregularities are almost sure to arise, but even if they don’t, it won’t exactly be a “free and fair” democratic election. Some of the dubious points already:

1. The Code of Conduct has not been adhered to. There has been election related violence, bomb blasts and killings already. Intimidations have been used. Part of the population are afraid to go and give their vote.

2. The candidates are not selected democratically. They have been appointed by the party leaders who again have the power to decide which candidate should get the seats the party has won. It’s not necessarily the candidate with the most votes who get the seat!

3. Top candidates have been given the “safe” election constituencies. Especially women candidates have been given the constituencies that the respective parties stand to loose.

4. Many voters simply don’t understand the election and how to vote. It has been made fairly complicated with a mixed voting system comprising both the first-past-the-post system and the proportional representation system.

But perfectly free and fair elections aside, it might still turn out to be “good enough and workable” to draw up a new constitution. Then again, it might not...


So what’s gonna happen to the King?
Good question, guess they’ll have to de-throne him somehow. It’s now actually written in the (amendment of the) interim constitution that monarchy will be abolished in the first session of the newly elected “all-powerful assembly”. Funny way of playing democracy, isn’t it? Going through all the trouble of electing 601 representatives who’s duty it then is - not to decide on, but - to implement an already stipulated condition, haggled in place by 3 old, male, upper-caste Pahadi tyrants!


So who’s gonna win the damn thing?
Anybody’s guess, really. Estimates I’ve heard can’t be described as being representative for Nepal’s extremely diverse population. I’m also not gonna dare a guess, so no conclusions here, but Madhav Kumar Nepal’s UML party could get a good share if they don’t loose too much to the Maoists. Maoists probably haven’t won many votes on the basis of their 10 year campaign of violence, but they represent change and so could take a lot of protest votes. The last of the big 3, the now re-unified Congress-niks have traditional support from traditionalists. And Nepal is in many ways a country of tradition. But will they stand this time? No answer here, no conclusion. But wait and see...


PS: However it’s gonna play out, I’ll be posting photo’s of the events on this page : Nepal election photos. - So be sure to check in from time to time.