Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category
Monday, July 7th, 2008
Lo, I am doing a new thing, now it springeth up - Isaiah 43:19
I was thinking today that it is so rare to see anything truly new anymore. Originally I was going to write this article to complain about the lack of “newness” among blogs. Sadly I’m not the only one who noticed this…
I could probably go on for a year citing other blogs and sources that have come to the same conclusion that there is nothing new in blogging. I’ll take it a step further. The lack of originality extends to the traditional media, especially op-ed pieces and so-called round table discussions. Why? Because bloggers have already ruined covered it 3 days before it happens. I suppose that doesn’t matter to someone who doesn’t read blogs, but is there such a person anymore? I mean even if someone didn’t actually read blogs you can rest assured they’ve hear them quoted day after day by various news sources.
When was the last time you sat down and said to yourself - Self, now THAT was truly original!
I just ask because either I’m right or I’m really missing something somewhere along the line. I mean how many get rich quick schemes “make money online” blogs can there be? Or how many insert blog topic here blogs can there be? Are any of them original anymore? It used to be that some were original because they were clearly first but anymore it’s hard to tell.
So my appeal to the masses is simply this, do something new. Write about something new (unlike this article), give us a new reason to read your blog. Make me want to add you to my feed reader because there’s something original to be found in there. I have 25 blogs in my feed reader at the moment and with the exception of 3 of them it’s all just a rehash of each others articles. I beg you dear blogger, end the madness! Write something original!
And those of you who frequently find yourself fodder for various blogs… You too have a responsibility in all of this. You too must do something new. Something worth gossiping about that is revolutionary.
Posted in Blogging, Potpourri | 2 Comments »
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
Maybe this will save someone else a little time and misery. Maybe it will give someone a laugh or two. Maybe it won’t. What it does do however is provide me subject matter for an article.
- Tried to make my own theme
- Fortunately for everyone who reads this blog that endeavor never saw the light of day. It did however cost me about 2.5 weeks of my life that I can never recover. To say that my calling isn’t in Wordpress theme building would be an understatement. Perhaps even a lie. Take it from me kids, know your limitation and save yourself a lot of time and effort.
Lesson learned: There are things out there that I’ll never be good at no matter how much time I waste trying to do them.
- Took a break
- This wouldn’t have been such a big deal, but what was intended to be a 2 week break to “collect my thoughts” turned into a several month absence. Granted I still popped in here and there to check things out, but I was missing in action. The damage? Lost about 85% of my readership judging by various stats. It seems to be building back up nicely, but imagine where I might be had I not gone stupid.
Lesson learned: Slow down if you must, but don’t stop completely. It’s just wasted time!
- Tried to make it into “A Blog about Blogging”
- Yeah I know… WTF was I thinking? What kind of a clown names their blog A Blog about Nothing and then gets the bright idea to make it about a particular topic? Me, that’s who! I’m the clown that tried doing that. It probably would have succeeded too if not for one grim bit of reality setting in. I didn’t have a damn clue what I was talking about!
Lesson learned: Either stick to what you know, or learn something about what you’re blogging about BEFORE you start telling other people what to do.
What about you? What stupid things have you done with your blog(s) that you regret (and hopefully have learned from)
Posted in Blogging | 3 Comments »
Saturday, June 28th, 2008
As I was watching Courtney Tuttle’s latest video guide about
choosing a profitable blog topic I got a little sidetracked by the price of gas. He mentioned the
keyword tool and I decided to test it out. Again. I can personally vouch for the tools effectiveness if used properly. So anyhow I tried a few different topics and one thing led to another and I ended up at a site called
Gas Buddy.
If you’ve never heard of the site before you should check it out. It’s a big database of gas stations across the United States and their prices. Basically it is designed to help you find cheap affordable gas and get an idea of how much you’ll be paying in a particular area. You can actually search by zip code and narrow it right down to where you are. In today’s economy when fuel prices are through the roof spending a few extra minutes planning where you’ll buy your gas isn’t a bad idea.
One other neat feature is the gas price temperature map. This allows you to see at a glance just how much you’re being ripped off compared to the rest of the country.
Just click the image above and it will take you to the live version of the map. Then put in your zipcode and have a look around at the prices in your area. It can differ as much as a dollar just by going one or two towns over. Sometimes the extra half-mile drive is worth it. Sometimes it’s not. There’s also a heat map for Canada
Now it’s time to go back and actually watch that video Court put so much effort into. Unless I get sidetracked again.
Posted in Blogging, Potpourri | No Comments »
Friday, May 30th, 2008
I don’t want to waste a lot of your time so I’ll get right to the point. If you follow these tips you will be well on your way to writing a blog post that can easily become your best. There are only 5 steps and a two year old could do them. Isn’t your blog worth a little effort?
- Get to the point
- Tell your readers exactly what you are going to do immediately. Don’t mess around with wordy prose just stuff it in their face and tell them how things are.
- Follow through on what you tell them
- If you promise the moon you damn sure better show up with the moon. People don’t like to be jerked around or lied to. Deliver as promised.
- Make it interesting
- It’s not the subject that is interesting it is what you do with it. Make your blog article to be interesting by what you do with the information and how you present it.
- Spelling and grammar count (for something)
- The internet isn’t an English class, but you can’t expect to be taken seriously if your “best blog post ever” is riddled with basic spelling and grammar errors. Take a few seconds to proof-read what you’ve written BEFORE you publish it
- Be interested in what you write about
- No matter how much you might pretend people will know immediately when you’re writing about something that doesn’t interest you. Don’t bother trying to fool them. Write about something that interests you and don’t waste anyone’s time.
Posted in Blogging, Writing | 3 Comments »
Monday, April 21st, 2008
Do you want to know the truth? Only idiots bother with social networking. Before you get your knickers all bunched up I want you to hear me out for a moment. Go log into your Myspace or Facebook profile real quick and have a quick look around. Ok, done?
…
Great! Notice anything different? Of course not! And that’s the whole point. Nothing changes. Aside from adding a few more meaningless faces and names to your “friends” list what have you accomplished? The truth of the matter is a bitter pill, but it’s time to swallow it. So called “social networking” is neither social, nor is it networking. But wait, there’s more good news!
Social networking can actually be more detrimental to your long term online health than you might realize. The problem is that we start developing content as if our social networks are our primary audience all the while forgetting the other 1.3 trillion people out there who aren’t in our friends list. If they were just part of the audience that would be fine, but we have a tendency to start dancing like clowns for our networks.
Now excuse me while I log into Reptile Geeks. I’m expecting a couple of more friend requests!
Posted in Blogging | 6 Comments »
