Archive for » March, 2008 «

24
Mar
Winding Your Way Through Blogosphere
Barbara Swafford

Photo Credit djrue’s photos
118535033 31b8c1cb37 Winding Your Way Through Blogosphere

A few months after I started blogging, I wrote,

When I first started blogging, I felt overwhelmed by everything I was reading. My head spun for weeks, and the learning curve was more like a switchback road going through a mountain pass. With every site I visited, I got more information, however, the more I read, the more conflicting the information became……

Today’s Lesson

Whether you’re new to blogging, or have been publishing posts for months/years, sometimes you begin to question yourself.

Am I doing this right?

Should I be doing XYZ differently?

Should I change my theme?

Should I change my blogging platform? (Blooger to WordPress or TypePad)

Should I post more (or less) often?

Does my content have to be great, or is “good”, enough?

Should I Stumble or Digg more?

Should I comment on other blogs?

Do I need to learn SEO (search engine optimization)

Do I need to learn more about HTML or CSS?

Should my blog be easy to navigate?

The questions go on, and on, and on…

One thing that doesn’t help is reading a lot of other blogs. Read ten blogs, and you’ll get ten different answers. Who’s right?

I say, there is no one right answer.

Blogging is your perception of what’s right and what’s wrong.

You know, in your heart, what works for you.

If you don’t want to Stumble, Digg, comment, learn HTML, include SEO and/or change your blogging platform, don’t.

It’s your blog. It’s your home in cyberspace.

Do, what you want to do, when you want to do it.

Although all the things I’ve listed are important, they are not essential to a blog.

The most important thing about blogging is that you enjoy it.

Today’s Assignment

Do you worry about how your blog appears in cyberspace

Do you stress over your blog posts, theme, or other blogging activities? (Digging, Stumbling, etc..)

Are you still enjoying blogging or are you experiencing burnout?

Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons  Tags: , , , ,  15 Comments
21
Mar
Do I Need A GPS To Navigate Your Blog
Barbara Swafford

Photo Credit Clemson’s photos
790273747 72bcffc780 Do I Need A GPS To Navigate Your Blog

I, like most bloggers (and online visitors), have ADD (Attention Deficient Disorder). I want answers fast and I don’t want to search for them.

Put me on a blog that’s difficult to navigate, and I’ll need a GPS (Global Positioning System).

Today’s Lesson

For both business and blogging, I do online research. If I land on a website or blog and am not intrigued by what I see within seconds, I’m off to the next one. However, if I see an interesting title or first sentence of an article, I’ll stop in my tracks and read on.

If I find what appears to be an exceptional blog, I’m compelled to read more.

I scan the sidebars looking for popular articles or some type of archives. Often, I find none.

Sometimes, at that point, I leave. Usually, never to return.

However, when I’m looking for my NBOTW (New Blog Of The Week), I will give the new blogger the benefit of the doubt and often scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on “previous posts”.

New bloggers excluded, these are the things I look for:

1) About page

2) Previous posts and/or Popular Posts

3) Archives (either full list or by month)

4) RSS feed

Although categories are often helpful, I normally don’t scan those, unless it’s a a blog that has hundreds of posts.

A contact page is also great to see. Some prefer not to leave a comment (or do not know how to), but may want to communicate via an email.

Personally, I prefer to see the this information, above the fold. I realize the “craze” is to have a lot of this information at the bottom of the page (in the footer), however, some visitors will not know to scroll to the bottom of the page. Sometimes I get lazy, and won’t scroll either. Sorry!

Without a GPS, the best writings on a blog could be completely missed.

I also put my blog to the test. I’ve made a few modifications and found my categories are in need of attention.. Although I had one spammy comment (which I deleted) about my Amber Alert Ticker taking up too much CPU usage, I choose to leave it on my blog, with hope it may save a child’s life.

Keep in mind, this is only my opinion, but I am trying to look at blogs objectively….as a visitor, and not necessarily as a blogger.

Today’s Assignment

What do you like to see when you land on a blog?

Do you often feel you need a GPS, or will you make time to “dig” through the blog?

How do you think new visitors will react when they land on your blog?

Category: Archives, Blogging Lessons, Themes  Tags: ,  19 Comments
20
Mar
A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
Barbara Swafford

Photo Credit maven’s photos

120909365 9b7b8cc302 2 A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words>
In my post titled: “Blogging Block – Can’t Find Anything To Blog About, I listed 15 ideas from which to draw inspiration.

Today’s Lesson

Today, I found a new form of inspiration.

Pictures.

As I search for just the right picture for my blog posts, I often land on some great photos.

I would like to use them, but they don’t apply to any post I have in drafts or the post I’m currently composing.

So, I’ve decided to create a “photo inspiration” file.

Now, whenever I find a photograph that I am intrigued by, I add it to my file.

When my creativity stalls, I have my folder of pictures to get me back on track.

Today’s Assignment

Find a picture you like. Study it and see how you can create a blog post that applies to the picture.

Write a post using the photo as inspiration.

Drop me a comment, link to the post, and I’ll come by and read it.

Category: Archives, Blogging Lessons, Writing Tips  Tags: , ,  26 Comments
19
Mar
Bloggers Embark On A Lonely Journey
Barbara Swafford

Photo Credit moriza’s photos
65440175 2bb0551a5d Bloggers Embark On A Lonely Journey

Have you read Darren Rowse’s Random Reflections on SXSWi-2008 (South x Southwest interactive) convention?

In his first “reflection”, he writes:

The more I meet bloggers the more that I find that many of us are lonely soles (to some degree). We sit alone in our home offices/living rooms/beds etc and often feel quite isolated and at times misunderstood.

Today’s Lesson

This one sentence saddens me.

Are bloggers really that lonely?

When I look back on my life. I lived by myself for many years. Often, friends would ask me if I was lonely. My answer was always “No”.

To me, there’s a difference between “being alone” and “being lonely”. Although I cherish time spent with friends and family, I also enjoy my alone time.

But, back to the question.

I wonder, has blogging actually become a therapeutic medium for those that are lonely and/or feeling misunderstood?

Does blogging give some a “voice” they wouldn’t normally project in real life?

Is the world becoming so “busy”, we don’t give others “the time of day”?

Is that why social networking sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, and Technorati are becoming so popular? Because we can “friend” someone without exposing ourselves?

Do bloggers feel more comfortable interacting with others as they hid behind the protection of their computer screen?

Is it a good idea to set a goal of becoming a problogger? A profession that would isolate a person even more?

Today’s Assignment

What do you think? Are most bloggers lonely, misunderstood individuals?

Does a blog help a lonely person communicate?

Is your blog therapeutic for you?

Should you be spending time with family and friends instead of blogging?

Does blogging isolate you from “your public”?

Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons  Tags: , , , ,  22 Comments
18
Mar
NBOTW Shares From Years Of Experience
Barbara Swafford

Photo Credit basykes’ photos
7159170 d0d9dade5f NBOTW Shares From Years Of Experience

At first glance, an elder person’s hands may look ugly to you. But the wrinkles, thin skin and visible veins are like a road map to their past.

How carefully do you listen when your parents, grandparents or an elderly person speaks? Do you tune them out? Do you assume their rambling stories have no merit? Do you fidget knowing the story is going to be long? Do you muti-task as you pretend to be listening to the story? Are you counting the seconds until they stop speaking? Do you make up an excuse and leave the room?

If you answered “Yes” to any of the questions, you are making a big mistake.

You need to listen carefully. Listen, very very carefully.

Their stories are filled with tons of knowledge and wisdom.

What they have to say, cannot be found in text books. Rarely can it be found online.

It’s not often I find a blog written by an author, who like me, writes from years of life’s experience.

When I do, I read their words.

This week’s NBOTW is a female, with a profile that reads similar to mine…a daughter, sister, wife, mother and grandmother, who is learning and growing and loving life. In other words, a non-traditional age blogger.

Her first blog post is dated 11/26/07. It was in Clay Collins’ (The Growing Life) comment section, that I found a link to this blog.

From digging through the archives of her blog, I noticed she has very few comments. But, that hasn’t stopped her. She has continued to write, to share, to help.

For young bloggers, it’s to your advantage to read what older bloggers write. It’s from years of experience, mistakes made and lessons learned, from which their posts are constructed.

To quote this blogger, she describes her blog as:

A place where I’ll share a story, perhaps a thought and some reflections and we’ll meet somewhere in the middle. I like to think of it as a gathering around the kitchen table late at night when everything is still and the world has quieted down to rest.

The name of the blog is Plain Talk – Ordinary Wisdom. The author’s name is Pat.

Join me in welcoming Pat to BWAB and to our community of cyberspace friends.

Hello Pat!

Related Posts with Thumbnails
Category: Archives, Lessons Learned, New Blog Of The Week  Tags: ,  16 Comments
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