Archive for June, 2007
Monday, June 25th, 2007
Not only will I provide you with my opinions on all things to do with blogging, but I will add other stuff from hereonin, as well.
I have a vast knowledge of random stuff, so I will be bestowing that on you. I’m branching out 
I can ramble on about US credit reporting, debt collections, and random funny stuff. Maybe I’ll throw in some news and junk like that.
I’m like a tree…or, um…something. Could you think of a better word? 
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Posted in Ramblings | No Comments »
Monday, June 25th, 2007
In our real day jobs, our managers give us pats on the back or gift cards or public recognition as a way of saying, “Great job”. We toil away 9 to 5 to somehow hear those words at least once in a while.
What about your blog?
You’ll never hear, “Good job on that posting the other day, Roberta, a fine read.” from anyone around you. (Not that your name is Roberta, too…lol) There is no verbal pat on the back or smiling manager looking over your shoulder to report on the wonderful job you’re doing.
So if no one is out there to give you that golden star for the work you’ve done on your blog, then how do you measure success?
Is it seeing that 500 gazillion readers have subscribed to your feed? Or, is it knowing that your mother isn’t your only reader? Is it mass quantities of commentators coming out of lurking status just to say hello or they liked your post?
What is the measure of success for you?
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Posted in Blogging | 2 Comments »
Sunday, June 24th, 2007
Who am I? What do you know about me? I would imagine the answer to that is that you only know about me what I want you to know, right? But, that’s true for any blogger, no matter who you are. Darren Rowse shows a picture, but won’t let anyone in on what his wife’s name is, all we know is her name is “V”. Jonathan over at SmartWealthyRich shows a photo and tells you all about how he plays guitar, etc. MsDanielle shows us a picture or two of herself and we can get to know her through her blog (love the Friday Flashbacks…)
So, I’ve been tagged by MiriGuy
to show you who I am and tell you a little somethin’ somethin’ about myself. Unfortunately, all I have online currently are these two really crappy photos. I will share them with you, so that you can see what I look like.
These photos are dark and really crappy, so you’ve been warned:
If I hear anyone say anything about Drew Barrymore, I’ll have you know, that she looks like me…(ha!) I’m older by around three months…The pics are dark, but I imagine you get the picture,eh?
I like all things music, as I used to play guitar. I collect old and foreign money, anything pewter, dragons, wizards, and amber glass. I love to take pictures, just as long as they aren’t of me. My prized possessions include a teddy bear that I’ve had since I was about six, a colorized 1999 Walking Liberty Dollar, my InventAmerica trophy from 1986, and a wizard that my dad made me out of clay (RIP 2003). I always believe that the best things in life are free.
So, that’s me in a nutshell.
BTW, this meme was started by David Airey.
1st thing to do:
Post a short paragraph or series of photos of yourself showing the face behind your blog. If you already show a photo on your blog, then make your post more interesting by choosing a photo that’s not currently online.
2nd thing:
Include links to others that have participated. Here are the ones that have participated so far:
Gayla at Mom Gadget
Char at Essential Keystrokes
Paul at Reflections
Rob at 2Dolphins
Zep at The In-Sect
Ingo at Stixster
Stevie at Lost In Cyberspace
The Paper Bull at (oddly enough) The Paper Bull
Lisa Sabin-Wilson at Just A Girl In The World
Dawud Miracle at dmiracle.com
Wendy Piersall at eMoms at Home
Dennis Bjørn Petersen at Petersen Inc.
Randa Clay at Randa Clay Design
Drew McLellan at The Marketing Minute
Becky McCray at Small Biz Survival
Phil Gerbyshak at Make it Great!
Steve Woodruff at StickyFigure
Dave Olson at Live the GREAT life that you desire
Greg at Become a Remote Control SEO
Ariane Benefit at Neat Living Blog
Genesis at the At Home Mom Blog
Armen at iFFECT.NET
Mihaela Lica at Online Public Relations
Tara at Graphic Design Blog
Doris Chua at Home Office Women
Edward Mills at Evolving Times
Tony D. Clark at Success from the Nest
Jonathan-C Phillips at SmartWealthyRich
Karen at A Deaf Mom Shares Her World
Lisa Gates at intrinsic life design
Rammel Firdaus at rammelfirdaus.com
Carol at Pentimento
Adam Kayce at Monk at Work
Thomas at Technical Blogger
Tammy Lenski at I Can’t Say That!
Chris Brown at Branding & Marketing
Rory Sullivan at Hamelife
Derek Wong at Going The Wong Way
Embuck at embuck.com
Ms. Q at QMusings
Shelly Tucker at This Eclectic Life
Steve at Ramblings from the Marginalized
Troy Worman at on!blog
Lilith at Lilith’s Owl Nest
Revov at REVO-OVER
Karin at Stop/Start
A link back to this post is much appreciated, to help create a more personal community!
Third thing to do:
Tag as many others as you like in your post to spread the meme.
Last, but not least:
If you link back to me here and send an email I’ll be sure to include links back to you.
I do have a question, however: Are you more drawn to bloggers by how they look? If they’re attractive, will you read more?
Oh yeah, I’m tagging Donovan at BlogThatOutside, Sassy at TheSassySoutherner, Angie at SunCoastScribe, Bob at BobMeetsWorld, and Jason at Foximus.
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Posted in Blogging | 44 Comments »
Friday, June 22nd, 2007
This Friday’s linklovin’ goes out to some pretty cool people.
Be sure to check these out!
Carma’s Window has a great post about passion
Frenchkys has a cool post about the Irish band Vega4
2BrosBlogging has a nifty post that you may want to check out, about blogs that have a decent pageranking and low top commentators
SunCoastScribe has a funny post about her daughter chopping off her hair. My son did that once, the goofball 
TheSassySoutherner is passing out some link love, too
Donovan has a useful post over at NewBlogger for spam protection
Enjoy!
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Posted in Blogging | 6 Comments »
Thursday, June 21st, 2007
I’ve come across sites that just write pretty excellent and funny content. This alone makes me subscribe to the blog’s feed and read it all of the time. It helps when you add that nice touch of sarcasm or snarkiness, or have a fountain of useful information on your blog.
It’s all well and good and you could have the most nicely written and informative content on the planet. If no one is reading it, then what good is it?
These tips will help you along the way and are good just to know for blogging in general. Feel free to add your own!
Set yourself apart
Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Set yourself apart from other bloggers out there by putting your own unique spin on the things that you care about. Writing in your own voice and injecting your unique personality into your blog goes along way. People will read you and get to know what you put in front of them.
Be personable
If you’ve taken the time to send someone an email, asking them a question or commenting on their content, then you shouldn’t go ignored. Setup the plugin comment relish for automatic emails to first time commentators. It says that you appreciate the time they’ve taken to make a comment and it shows that you care.
Be responsive
Commentators love conversation, that’s why they’ve come to your blog in the first place. They’ve seen something that they liked and they want to speak on it. If someone has commented on your page, speak up! Comment back. That will show them that there is a live person behind the scenes and you care about their opinions or appreciate their feedback. It’s not unheard of to comment on your own blog, but don’t be the first.
Start a contest
Everyone is starting a buzz right now with blog contests. So much that there is an entire blog dedicated to blog contests. If you have the extra cash, you can offer that as a prize. Or, you can offer a nice linkback to another blogger’s site. You would be surprised to see what people will do with a few minutes of their time everyday for a chance to win $100.00. That $100.00 may seem like a lot to you, but it’s worth it’s weight in gold for the links and posts you get from other bloggers. You can even get a sponsor to offer the prize and not have to come out of pocket for anything. This way you can still reap the benefits of a contest.
Group Writing Projects
I know a lot has already been said about Group Writing Projects and their impact on the blogosphere, but I’m going to tell you my thoughts on them. GWPs are very helpful if you’re a new blogger and are looking to get recognized. They usually have prizes that you get a chance to win and are centralized around a theme. Liz Strauss does her projects and has offered books and a linkback to your blog. Darren Rowse’s last GWP offered up a nice $1,001.00 prize to a random winner. I know that a lot of us don’t have that kind of money laying around, but the point of it all is to get people involved. You can’t ignore the 893 posts that his last GWP generated. It shows you the power of the project and the scope it involves.
Let people know you’re out there
You can do this by finding blogs in your own niche and commenting on them. Remember, if you don’t find anything of interest, then it’s best not to comment at all. If you’ve found a blog that really sparks your interest, email the author. We all love to hear feedback and you may give us ideas on new content. Other bloggers sometimes will not know you’re out there unless you tell them.
Join a community
I have found several friends already through MySpace and MyBlogLog. These sites can be really useful in meeting others that are interested in the same type of topics you are. You can make friends this way and throw some ideas around. Another good thing about MyBlogLog is that your mug shows up in someone else’s widget when you visit their site.
What’s your take? Talk to me in the comments and let’s spark some conversation!
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Posted in Blogging | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, June 20th, 2007
Fellow Clevelander, Jessie Davis, has been missing since June 13, 2007. Recently, a newborn baby has been found several miles away from the last known location of Jessie. If you have any information on her whereabouts, please contact the local police immediately.
This is a paid ad, but it’s local. And if you’ve seen her since her missing date, then you can help her family at ease.
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Posted in Ramblings | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, June 20th, 2007
With all of the blogs out there asking the question, “What are the top five things you like about blogging?” or questions of that sort, it made me think.
We’re always saying what we like about blogging, naming off things like, ‘it’s the ability to be a part of the community’, ‘I want to be read’, and ‘to making extra cash online’.
It got me to wondering, what don’t you like about blogging?
I mean, what is it that bothers you about the blogosphere? No matter how big or small, something has to get your undies in a bunch.
My biggest pet peeve right now is the fact that people aren’t encouraging comments by following the do-follow movement. I love to hop around and read blogs and if I’ve found yours nifty enough to comment on it, then send on the link love. I do it for my readers.
I guess this sort of seems rather tit-for-tat, but I like it.
What’s your blogging pet peeve?
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Posted in Blogging | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, June 20th, 2007
I was meandering around the internet today and found that LiveLearnInvest is running a contest. There are no reviews to do or anything like that. The best part is that in putting up a sentence or two, you have entered yourself in a contest to win an iPod shuffle!
All you have to do is link to the contest and toss up a link to http://www.onboardcircuits.com with the anchor text Printed Circuit Boards.
That’s it, you’re done! Entries into this cool contest also get a free backlink. Count me in!
Are you in?
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Posted in Blog Contest | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, June 20th, 2007
Causin’ trouble, of course.
I made a new badge for Awesome Guy Bloggers. Check it out at NewBlogger. I’ve tagged:
Donovan from BlogThatOutside
Jonathan at SmartWealthyRich
Bob from BobMeetsWorld
David Culpepper from PureBlogging
Saman Sadeghi from Samanathon
As a bonus to my tagging all of the Rockin’ Girl and Awesome Guy Bloggers, I will be featuring the links to all of your blogs on my PR4 blog, Earsucker. After a few weeks or so, I will list them all here and there. So, link those badges back over to this site for some wonderful link lovin’.
Tag, you’re it! Check out posts on this stuff at ContestBlogger.
Oh yeah, I wanna tag RomanceTracker, too, cuz I read that stuff all of the time.
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Posted in Blogging | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
Is it right for you? How will you know?
There are a ton of blog networks out there looking for more people to write for them. I joined with one that I can’t yet tell you about (it hasn’t made it’s online debut as of yet), and there’s one that I can. That one is 451 press. They put out a call for bloggers via the Problogger job board. You can check there for paid blogging jobs.
Some of the companies look to have their bloggers post at least 1-2 posts per day and you get a traffic bonus. The good part about this is that they drive the traffic to you. The money is definitely a bonus if you are just looking to be read. These types of blogging jobs are great if you are really passionate about the subject of your blog.
Other companies want to give you a percentage of the ad revenue that your blog generates. In this case, it’s really up to you if you want to post a lot or a little. This may drive you to post genuine content in order to attract readers that may click on your ads.
Also, another good thing about blog networks is that when you join, there are a whole channel full of bloggers that have already linked to you. Your posts may appear on front pages when highlighting that channel and this gives you more exposure. If you check out Technorati in relation to the Cleveland blog, you’ll find that it’s already been linked to by all of the City Channel bloggers. They also feature some of your latest postings on everyone else’s blogs.
451 Press is one of the blog networks that gives you a percentage of the ad revenue. I write about Cleveland on that blog. I haven’t yet taken that blog to its fullest potential as of yet, but it’s day is coming.
Before venturing on to blog on my own domains, I blogged for BlogCritics. BC is a great forum for fine-tuning your own writing skills and expertise. They have channel editors that tell you sometimes that you may want to add more beef to your article or pictures, or whathaveyou. These are not paid positions and only further the community for BlogCritics. Eric Olsen started that site as a music review page and it blew up from there. On BC, though, you have to add Amazon codes to all of your articles. That way, you’re always pimping out music, books, or movies via Amazon. It’s built right into the interface.
I haven’t seen anything like that anywhere else. The downside of that is that you have to search for relevant ads from Amazon to enter into your posts. This can be tedious.
When you are thinking of joining a blog network, there are several things for you to think about. Are you going to lose control of your site’s content? Who retains ownership of the material you create? Is there a contract? Are the people friendly and helpful? Are there restrictions on what you can write about? Are there restrictions in your style of writing? Some people swear frequently in their postings, but this may be against the blog network’s terms of their contract.
When thinking about signing up to join a blog network, keep all of that in mind. As I always say, it’s not a stupid question unless it goes unasked.
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Posted in Blog networks | No Comments »
