Archive for » July, 2008 «

lorelle of wordpress logo 300x215 Interview With Lorelle VanFossen   Part 6   Lets Woop It UpAnyone who has followed this blog knows I’m a stataholic who loves to analyze statistical (blog) tracking programs. A new one, named Woopra, has been added to my list. As luck would have it, Lorelle (of Lorelle on WordPress) knows Woopra better than most.

Here’s her explanation in detail.

6) In a recent email from you, you mentioned you are now the editor-in-chief of the Woopra blog/zine. Can you explain what Woopra is and how it can benefit bloggers?

is the most exciting software technology I’ve stumbled across in a very long time and I’m so thrilled to be a small part of it. Woopra is a web analytics program that reports on your blog traffic, but it is more than that. Woopra is installed on your computer as Java software, running in the background, and links to your blog through a JavaScript which can be installed manually or through the Woopra WordPress Plugin.

Woopra is different for many reasons, way beyond its purpose as a web analytics program. Primarily because it has the most beautiful software interface. It’s lovely. Woopra also tracks your blog statistics live – right now. As they are happening. There is also a live chat feature that allows you to start a conversation with visitors on your blog while they are visiting your blog. They need to do nothing more than accept your invitation to chat, no special software provided. Bloggers are having so much fun with this, even holding contests inviting people to visit and chat and handing out prizes.

When someone registers with your blog or leaves a comment, their name is storied in a cookie which Woopra can read. Woopra then changes the Visitor #34503 to “Sally Jones” – and the anonymous visitor now becomes a person moving through your blog. You can tag them and create a custom event notification so you will be alerted the next time they visit, and can track their visits over time.

One user told me that they didn’t like that Woopra was raising the accountability standards. “I can’t tell so-and-so that I visited their blog when I didn’t. They can guilt-trip me by saying, ‘I checked Woopra and you haven’t been by in six weeks!’ No more lying!” We all laughed, but I see Woopra changing the face of the web in many ways, through instant monitoring of visitors, live chats, and customized tracking.

Right now, Woopra is free for beta testing, but only by private invitation only. There are more than 25,000 beta testers, and more approvals may be coming, so you can sign up and wait, but be patient. If you get approved, you will be expected to monitor the Woopra Forums and comment and report on bugs and feature requests.

For those currently using Woopra, we are inviting our beta testers to guest blog on the about how they are using Woopra and web analytics to help them blog. We’re also looking for articles on how blog and web stats change and influence your blogging behavior – especially when it comes to social networking. How we work and use the web for our business and social life is measurable, but how do the numbers really change your experience and usage. Email me if you are a Woopra member and interesting in contributing.

Today’s Assignment

In the past I’ve written posts titled Confusing Blog Stats – Is a Visit A Visit?, Page Views Are Over Rated and in Blogging – Year One – Lesson 4, I share what I learned from stats.

Although it’s easy to get addicted to checking our statistics, much can be learned from them. Dig past the initial numbers and hoards of useful information lies beneath.

How close do you look at your statistics?

Do you know where your traffic is coming from?

Are your keywords/keyword phrases working?

What are your statistics telling you?


Woopra is an awesome statistical program. Want to become a beta tester? It’s easy. Go to Woopra.com and sign up.


Photo Credit: Lorelle’s Logo

lorelle of wordpress logo 300x215 Interview With Lorelle VanFossen   Part 5   Managing 350+ Feeds Managing our feeds can be time consuming. The more blogs we subscribe to, the more time it takes away from our other blogging activities. When I read Lorelle (of Lorelle on WordPress) has over 350 blogs in her feed reader, I wanted to know how she does it.

Here’s her response.

5) In a post for Blog Herald on preventing blog burn-out, you stated you follow over 350 blogs in your feed reader. What determines which blogs you follow and which posts you read? And do you do what most bloggers confess to, and scan articles without reading word for word?

Of course I scan. I couldn’t function otherwise. Most people scan. That’s a normal reading behavior and doesn’t apply to bloggers specifically. We all scan blogs, newspapers, magazines, even books. For me with that many blogs to track, I have to in order to survive. However, when I boil it down to really important articles, I read them thoroughly, digesting all of it, as do we all when things of interest confront us.

What determines the blogs I follow and the posts I read? Depends.

Every Wednesday I publish the covering a wide range of WordPress news, tips, events, and topics. Thus, I have a huge list of WordPress-related blogs that I have to track in order to generate that weekly post. Are they blogs I would track normally? No. Most of them are BORING and dull, but I love geek talk, so I find something interesting in all the code babble, too. It’s my job, and it helps to enjoy even the dull stuff. :D

I have a wide range of subject categories I track, though not as often as I do the weekly WordPress news items. I track blogs about writing, science, science fiction, gardening, eco-building, environmental issues, nature, knitting, cooking, genealogy, web analytics and SEO, web design, blogging, and the news. I also have a few favorite friends that I track through their blogs. My list is no different from other people as I track the things I’m interested in, monitoring industry news, tips, and information.

As to which blogs make it into my feeds, I think that I’m also like other people. Subject matter dictates inclusion. I have very few blogs I will track that aren’t focused on a specific subject as an expert. I track some genealogy blogs because they write about their research and I can learn about the tips and techniques they use to uncover their family’s history, but if they spend too much time rattling on about their broken down car, family, marriage, work, or ranting about politics and things of little or no interest to me, I’m gone.

To end up in my feed reader you have to feed me. You have to give the information that brought me to your site in the first place. You have to keep providing me with the information I can use or you lose.

Today’s Assignment

What determines which blogs make it into your feed reader?

How do you manage your feed reading time?

To avoid redundancy, the subject of scanning posts was addressed in a recent article titled: Bloggers Flunk The Reading Assignments. If you would like to share how you feel knowing others are scanning the posts you work so hard on, please feel free to leave a comment below.


Photo Credit: Lorelle’s Logo

2139654509 d9a64fb447 NBOTW   Blogging   No Age Requirement
It doesn’t matter it you’re a teen or a senior citizen (see Linda Abbit’s post on the 108 year old blogger). Anyone can have a blog.

Today’s “New Blog Of The Week” (NBOTW) is written by a 14 year old from Syria. He blogs about blogging.

In his post titled: What Does It Take To Be Successful?, he nails it. To quote him on “perseverance” (in blogging), he says

….Although all the posts and time will eventually lead to a successful blog, they are not enough alone. What is needed is constant posting, interaction with your readers, marketing, and a bit of patience. Slowly you will begin to see the results of your hard work and feel glad you endured any obstacles to reach your current position.

From his post, “Everyone Makes Mistakes – No Exceptions” he shares these words of wisdom:

Instead of taking the negative comments as insults, I started taking them as guidelines, good suggestions, and the best motivation boosts I could get.

Not only does he share his views on basic blogging, he shares his opinion on ““Internet Ideas That Won’t Make You Rich”.

This young man is well on his way. He understands the concepts of blogging and providing posts that hold value.

His blog is Rajaie Talks, and obviously, he is Rajaie.

Join me in welcoming Rajaie to the BWAB community.

Hello Rajaie!


Photo Credit: Todd Baker < < technowannabe's photostream

lorelle of wordpress logo 300x215 Interview With Lorelle VanFossen   Part 4   Finding Fresh Content
The interview with Lorelle (of Lorelle on WordPress) continues.

Thus far, we’ve covered staying motivated, errors bloggers make, and if good content is good enough.

Today Lorelle will be sharing her view on a problem new bloggers may not have (yet), but it’s a scenerio that can strike at anytime.

4) You’ve been blogging for many years, and have also written the book, Blogging Tips, What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging. How do you find fresh content without rehashing old subjects? Or, is rehashing old subjects a good way to give new birth to older posts?

Rehashing is such a harsh word. :D With time, everyone is redundant, and sometimes topics need to be revisited, so revisiting them in new ways puts a fresh light on things. For instance, I’ve written a lot about copyright protections and content theft. I still don’t get that people think stealing is bad, and plagiarism is really wrong in the offline world but think nothing of it in the virtual world. I don’t know “if it’s on the Internet, it’s free” mythology got started, but it’s got to stop, especially when it comes to content theft. After a while, you would think there isn’t much anyone can say new on the subject, then along comes someone like who throws some new logs on the fire and once again I learn that there is even more that can be said on the subject. I encourage him and he encourages me, and we’ve built an amazing friendship in the process.

Here’s another perspective. Orson Scott Card created one of his most powerful characters, Andrew Wiggin in Ender’s Game. He went on to write numerous sequels to follow one of the world’s most popular and award winning books. Years later, he wrote Ender’s Shadow, telling the same story of Ender but from a different perspective, the point of view of one of the other characters, Bean. That started a new series of sequels. Just when you think that Card had broken all the rules as he described so well in Ender’s Game, he did it again and started a new series for the twentieth anniversary of the first book, part of the Enderverse (“Ender Stories”) series, again rehashing the original from totally new perspectives.

Orson Scott Card has influenced several generations and new audiences by writing about the same story, over and over. Imagine the market potential! How many ways can he come up with to tell the same story? Who knows. I learn so much from what Orson Scott Card writes and publishes, I think most of his books should be required reading, no matter what your business or writing genre.

Another expert at finding new ways of making old subjects interesting is . Her new ebook, The Secret to Writing a Successful and Outstanding Blog — The Insider’s Guide to the Conversation That’s Changing How Business Works, is a life changing book on blogging and social networking for me and a lot of other bloggers and companies working on the web trying to get our heads around the quickly changing market. You asked if content was still king and I told you that a successful blog is about conversation – Liz writes all about how to write for the conversation in a way that is an eye-opener on the subject – even for those of us who call ourselves experts.

I love how people find new ways of saying the same old thing. I dig deeply through the web to find articles on blogging and WordPress which say the same thing, but in a new way. It’s like sitting in a room with friends debating an issue. It’s a chance to hear all the different opinions and see the reactions and feedback. I read through the posts, check out the comments, and it’s like I’m at a party. I love it.

The web has opened up the world to millions of points of view, so it’s easy to get locked into a march on your blog, but open yourself up to new perspectives and watch your own shift and change.

And attend conferences and meetups. That will get your juices flowing and your head spinning every time. Meeting bloggers in person is one of the greatest joys of my life as they fuel me!

Today’s Assignment:

Short of using Hunter’s “Automatic Blog Post Rehasher”, where does your inspiration come from?

Are you often at a loss for creative ideas, or is your list long?

When you see other bloggers write on the same subjects you do, are you intimidated, or do they inspire you to do a better job?


Photo Credit: Lorelle’s Logo

Hi Everyone,

I’m registered for Liz Strauss’s “Blog To Show”, on Successful And Outstanding Bloggers.

My entry can be seen here: #226 From Barbara”

While on Liz’s blog, be sure to check out her new book titled:The Secret To Writing A Successful And Outstanding Blog.

Liz did an awesome thing by giving all bloggers a chance to promote their blogs. Over 250 bloggers participated.

A round of applause goes to Liz. ///clap, clap, clap\\\ Go Liz! You’re one of the greats! :)

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