Archive for » October, 2008 «

Oct

Blogging To Do List – Do It, Delete It Or Delegate

Have I got a treat for you today. Although this isn’t the first guest post on Blogging Without A Blog (BWAB), it’s the first time I’m using a “substitute teacher”.

Two weeks ago when I was buried in work from my paying job and blogging was taking a back seat, Avani emailed me and offered her help. Although I am one who normally tries to do it all, I accepted Avani’s offer and she agreed to try her hand at teaching.

Let’s get started.

Take your seats, please.

Avani, the floor is yours.

155105184 fb318126c7 Blogging To Do List Do It, Delete It Or Delegate

Hello everyone. Thank you for the warm welcome. It’s a pleasure to be here.

As you can see by the picture I’ve put up on the board, my lesson will center around procrastination.

It starts with a short story.

I had an amazing time this week. We (me and my hubby) made a list of all one-time activities which we have been postponing for someday and decided to take at least one activity off the list everyday (like organizing cabinets, updating our expense file, making calls to family and friends, some documentation etc) .

As we found ourselves happily patting each others back at amount of work we finished after a week, I started wondering how can I use this experience in blogging.

Today’s Lesson

When I started to blog, I took a deep dive into reading blogging related sites like Darren Rowse’s Problogger and Yaro Starak’s Entrepreneurs Journey. I took notes and made multiple lists – a list for coding activities, a list for networking activities etc. For the first few weeks, I diligently attempted to check everything off the list.

And then, I got lost in the sea of posts, comments, reading other blogs, commenting on them and of course, how can I forget stats. The amount of work these five activities represent and the amount of time they took, became my reason to not to do any additional tasks (I guess this is the reason why sometimes I feel that my blog has reached a plateau. Same activities = same results.).

I made a list of activities other than these five on which I have been procrastinating. I plan to take one off every week depending upon how much time this would take. Adding meta-tags, setting correct categories and tagging top the list.

In order to ensure that this does not happen again, I plan to list out everything that I procrastinate on and add star to everything that is a repeat in a weekly review. This way, those activities which are most procrastinated, will stand out and become high priority.

Today’s Assignment

What are the blogging activities you procrastinate on all the time?

Do you plan to do these activities anytime soon? If not, could they be delegated to someone else or take them off the list?

What’s your plan to finish off these activities?

That ties up today’s assignment.

Let’s open this subject for discussion. Your answers, additional questions and comments are welcome.

Barbara, I see you raised your hand. What would you like to share?

This post is by Avani Mehta. She maintains a personal development blog at Avani-Mehta. You can subscribe to her blog by RSS or Email.

Photo Credit: Wanda G’s photostream

Category: Archives, Blog Maintenance, Blogging, Blogging Lessons 41 Comments

Oct

How To Survive A Bashing In Blogosphere

Barbara Swafford

Have you ever heard the saying, “When you point a finger at someone else, you have three (fingers) pointing back at you”?

It reminds me of negative publicity business owners are subjected to which is often generated by their competitors.

Look at Donald Trump. He’s the subject of tons of negativity. People pick on everything from his business practices to his hair. But what happens? He gains more notoriety, becomes wealthier, and even more powerful than before. In some respect I think it may “feed” him to be better, to be bigger, and to prove his naysayers wrong.

The same holds true in blogosphere. Anyone who has written a blog for any length of time can expect to get negative comments, hate mail, and/or to be bashed. It’s the nature of the game when we put our words on the world wide web for everyone to critique.

Today’s Lesson

Big name bloggers get slammed on a regular basis. Darren Rowse of Problogger, John Chow and Lorelle (of Lorelle on WordPress) have all had their share. Even smaller bloggers get “hit”. Catherine Lawson has, as have Hunter Nuttal Vered, of MomGrind and Natural of Thinking Out Loud

Last week I got slammed/bashed or as the person(s) said, “exposed for what I am”(?). Granted I could go on and write pages in my defense, however, I’ll let my readers decide if I’m authentic and if my blog is worthy of being read.

When, where and by whom I was bashed is not the issue or topic of this post. What has become my greatest concern is other bloggers. Knowing negative words could cut like a knife, what if a new, or older, more sensitive blogger gets slammed? How will they feel? Will the cruelty stop them from blogging? Will they be so crushed it affects their personal life? Their career? Or will they lash back, get caught up in the basher’s “game”, and make matters worse?

I believe we can all learn from each others experiences. Let’s open the floor for discussion and talk about how negativism in blogosphere can best be handled.

Today’s Lesson

Have you ever received hate mail, negative comments or been bashed?

How did you deal with it, and what did it teach you?

If you have not been the subject of negativity, how do you think it would affect you?

I hate to ask, but I will, have you ever bashed someone in blogosphere? If so, what did it accomplish?

In every cloud is a silver lining. To the person(s) who bashed me, I say “thank you” for the inspiration for this post. To those who came to my defense, I will be forever grateful.

Photo Credit: Mykl Roventine’s photostream

Category: Archives, Blogging Lessons 48 Comments

Oct

It’s All About Me – Part 3

Barbara Swafford

all about me Its All About Me Part 3

You, my readers, are awesome.

Remember last week when I was interviewed by Stephen Hopson of Adversity University? Based on how many comments “Part 1″ got, it broke his comment record. How cool is that?

The second part of the interview is now live.

As I mentioned earlier, the first question of part two was the most difficult for me to answer. When you read “my story” you’ll understand why. Hint: It’s about adversity in my life.

Another question I answer is: “What was your most embarrassing moment”
and “What is the biggest/boldest dream you have for yourself?”

Let’s see if we can top the comments from last week and create a new record for Adversity University

The name of the post is:Stephen Hopson Interview With Barbara Swafford, Part II of II.

I’ll see you there!

Category: Archives, Interviews 14 Comments

Oct

NBOTW – Bringing Me To Tears

Barbara Swafford

Here’s another daddy blogger who is making his mark on blogosphere. By reviewing his early posts, he writes how he and his wife made a decision to have him stay home with the four children and she would to work.

I knew he was a great guy when he dedicated his first blog post to his wife. It’s titled “Happy Anniversary Darling” and in it he writes (in part):

I’ve waited until today to launch [my blog], and I want to dedicate the endeavour to my wife, not for what it is now, nor what it may become, but for what it represents for our future and the opportunities we are yet to see

After being a stay at home dad for a short period, he had a wake up call. In his post titled I’m Not Sexist”, he describes the responsibilities of a stay at home dad (or mom).

The workload is astonishing. You are everything to everybody. You are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. You are the cook, the cleaner, the chauffer. You are the nanny, the nurse, the teacher. You manage the accounts, the household supplies (within a budget), and maybe three, four or five different schedules. You often have to be two different places at any one time. The schedule and the demands on your time can be overwhelming.

It’s been an eye opening experience, but he’s handled it well. Along with the children, he also had to deal with the family pet. This post brought tears to my eyes, and is titled, ““The Loss Of A Well Loved Pet”. Grab a Kleenex and check it out. In part, it says

On the morning that I was to take him [the dog] to the vet, we went for a last walk in the woods. He didn’t go very far because he just couldn’t, his ailing health had taken its toll. He still sniffed around and he still wagged his tail and this made it all the more difficult.

You may have seen him here or somewhere else in blogosphere. His name is Dave Fowler, and his blog is “Teach My Children Well”.

Join me in re-welcoming Dave to the BWAB community.

Hello again, Dave!

Enjoy your reign.

Photo Credit: Megyarsh’s photostream

Category: Archives, New Blog Of The Week 32 Comments

Oct

A.S.K. Darren Rowse of Problogger – When Do We Know Our Blog Is A “Winner”

Barbara Swafford

Most bloggers get impatient and want fast growth. We try whatever others suggest to grow our blogs and drive traffic to them. Some techniques work better than others, but no one tells us what to expect, when.

I wanted to ask someone who has been there, so in this third part of my A.S.K. (Answers Sharing Knowledge) series with Darren Rowse, author of Problogger and co-author of ProBlogger: Secrets Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income

I asked

It’s not unusual for a blogger to expect rapid success. Based on your 6 year blogging history, when (timeframe), and how did your know your blog was a “winner”?

Darren answered

For me I’m looking for ‘signs’ that my blogs are growing from the very start. It’s not so much about getting certain amounts of traffic at certain points but rather seeing signs of growth and reader engagement.

For example with ProBlogger I knew I was onto something with potential before I even started it because the posts that I wrote about blogging on my personal blog at the time were getting more comments than any other topic.

With Digital Photography School I knew there was potential in the early days because other blogs began to link to it.

It’s all about looking for signs of growth and engagement – not just traffic. You should start to see these (even if they are just very small signs) from the first few months.

For a blog to reach its potential though, you need to give it considerable time. It takes a couple of years to get to its potential.

Reflecting On The Answer

Thank you Darren for sharing your answer with us. It certainly sheds a new light on the time commitment blogging entails.

Darren mentioned we can see growth in other ways than just traffic. Another way we can measure the growth of our blog is by our Google Page Rank. We all start with a ranking of 0/10, and as our blogs grow and gain credibility as being reputable, our page rank increases.

Todays Assignment

Can you think of other ways a blog’s growth can be measured other than in just traffic numbers or comments?

With regard to your blog, are you seeing continual growth?

Were you surprised when Darren said a blog takes “a couple of years to get to its potential”?

I’m curious to hear what you think. Feel free to share your answer.

Read other answers in the A.S.K. (Answers Sharing Knowledge) series.
A.S.K. Darren Rowse – How Does A Problogger Deal With Comments

A.S.K. Darren Rowse of Problogger – How Do We Increase Our Readership
A.S.K. Andy Bailey – What Was The Inspiration Behind The CommentLuv Plugin
A.S.K. Liz Strauss – How Do You Inspire Readers To Join Your Community
A.S.K. Liz Strauss – How To Format Blog Comments To Maximize Comments

Photo Credit: Darren Rowse/Problogger