Archive for » March, 2008 «

Mar

Today is my one year anniversary of blogging.

I’ve been thinking of how to celebrate this special day, and I knew what had to be done.

For the past few months I have been wanting to get my “Blogging Buddies” page rewritten, so I have made it my mission to have it done by today.

For those of you who aren’t aware of my Blogging Buddies page, here’s the premise:

When I started blogging, I wanted to show my appreciation to anyone who commented on either this, or my Observation Mountain (OM) blog. I created a page, which was a list of links to everyone’s site. After researching “link farms” it became obvious I might have created one with this list of links, so I took the page down.

I have now rewritten it, and included more text.

It’s my way of thanking all of my loyal readers and commenters for providing me with support, motivation, inspiration and friendship during the past year.

So, without further ado, here’s my new and updated “Blogging Buddies” page.

From here on in, you can find it in the header.

As new commenters arrive, their names will be added to the page.

To everyone…., thank you for your support.

I’m sending you all cyberspace (((((hugs)))))

Category: Archives, Blogging Tags: Blogging, inspiration 18 Comments

Mar

If One Is Good, Two Is Better

Barbara Swafford

Photo Credit oskay’s photos

Do you do a lot of experimenting on your blog? I do.

In the beginning, I changed themes, added and removed plugins, reconfigured my sidebars, experimented with ad placement, tried my hand at HTML (I knew nothing about it), and proceeded to crash my blogs a time or two.

Fortunately with all of the experimenting, I never lost anything .

Today’s Lesson

Several months ago I decided I might want to start a third blog. Yes, call me crazy. I can’t even keep up with the two I have.

I picked another domain name and added another WordPress blog to my BlueHost web hosting account.

With BlueHost offering the free addition of domains, the cost was only $10.00. (price of the domain name)

Needless to say, the third blog hasn’t materialized, but that site has become extremely useful.

It is my “test” site.

Whenever I want to try out a new plugin, widget, or theme, I load it onto my test site and “play” .

The worse that can happen is I crash that site. But, if I did, it would be an easy fix.

In an recent e-mail, Natural Woman of Thinking Out Loud mentioned that she uses one too.

So, if one is good, and two is better, would that make three, the best?

Today’s Assignemnt

Have you ever thought of setting up a test site?

Would you feel more comfortable if you could experiment with a plugin, widget, theme, or HTML somewhere other than your blog?

If you answered yes, what’s stopping you?

Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons Tags: Blogs, WordPress 23 Comments

Mar

1066 Links, Lessons or Tips For Bloggers

Barbara Swafford

Photo Credit: liewcf’s photos

Bloggers are always looking for help. Help to get found. Help to make money online. Help in writing. Help in turning a blog into an online business, and help on how to blog.

Well, I’m here with help.

Today’s Lesson

Listed below are 1066 great resources. Some are lists of links, some are lessons in blogging, and some are great tips. You may find duplicates, and those that are, are worth reading more than once.

Happy Clicking!

Maki at Dosh Dosh, has compiled a great list of “63 Constructive Opinions on the best way to make money online”

MAD – Martyn Davis. and Lid (Lidija) of Blogwell, keep adding to this list that currently has “121 Resources for Web Developers

The writing team at Daily Blog tips, shares this great post: “Become a Blogging Wizard – 6 Lessons From Harry Potter”

If you would rather have your blogging information in the form of an e-book, at Blogging StartUp, Jim lists “11 Best Damn Blogging ebooks That Cost You Nothing”.

Lorelle, the “Queen of WordPress”, created a no nonsense list titled: “The 12 Biggest Problems With Your Blog”

For links to over 90 sites on writing and blogging, you must check out this comprehensive (and growing) list from All Freelance Writing: “The Big List Of Writing Blogs”. Jennifer Mattern, undoubtedly spends countless hours updating this list.

For those of you who want to make a business out of blogging, Catherine Lawson, compiled a list of “107 Great Resources for Entrepreneurs”. These links will keep you clicking for days.

A classic post, and a favorite of mine by Darren Rowse (Problogger.net) is “18 Lessons I’ve Learnt As A Blogger”

Do You want great traffic building ideas, Seth Godin lists 56 ways on “How to get traffic for your blog”

In a popular post of hers, Skellie shares “101 Essential Blogging Skills”

In this post, Darren, of Problogger.net, reminds bloggers to slow down. Here he lists “13 Questions To Ask Before Publishing A Post On Your Blog”

Here’s a classic post from Steve Pavlina named: “10 Stupid Mistakes Made By the Newly Self Employed”

And for another great post from Steve Pavlina, “10 Reasons You Should Never Get A Job”

Mark, over at Business Blogging 101, likes to teach via YouTube video tutorials. On his site, he has 25 WordPress Tutorials. Keep on eye on this list, as he’s always adding more.

If you really want to know what the “competition’ is doing, here’s a link to “Technorati’s Top 100 Blogs”

Daily Blog Tips team published: “101 Blog tips I Learned in 2006“. Although it may sound like it could be outdated, some of the tips are timeless.

Want to boost your productivity? Steve Pavlina shares 99 ways, in a series of three posts (33 tips in each). The links are as follows: “33 Rules to Boost Your Productivity – Volume 1″, “Volume 2“, and “Volume 3″.

Are you a “mommy ” who’s looking to share with other moms, in 2006 Guy Kawasaki listed 59 such blogs in his post: “The Ultimate Mommy Blog List” Three cheers for moms.

We can never read enough about blogging. Joshue Clanton agrees. He published this list of “64 Thrice Vetted Posts On Blogging”

Today’s Assignment

You know what to do.