Archive for » April, 2009 «

Apr

helping hands

Neither her nor her blog are new to the internet, however, I’m guessing some of you may not have found her yet.

She describes herself as

…an accomplished Information and Technical Consultant specializing in the entire implementation of a WordPress based website including installation, theme design, upgrades, unique customizations and ongoing site maintenance.

She knows her stuff and kindly shares great hints and tips with her readers.

In a post titled: 10 More Interesting and Useful Plugins: Comments, Posts and Databases one of the plugins she tells us about is the,

Public Post Preview – This plugin creates a link of a preview post to send to anyone so they can look at the preview. I really could have used this when I started blogging. I was so nervous about each article that I wanted someone to check them for me.

I’m going to use tip #8 from her post and generated a favicon for my blog.

If you’re like me, you love to either just look at other themes or try new ones. In the post WordPress – How To Find the Best Free Themes she recommends three sources, with one being,

I have a huge collection of delicious bookmarks and have been bookmarking themes for years. I have not checked the links or weeded out the old links recently, but I have a list of almost 50 theme resources. You can subscribe to the RSS feed listed above or check out all of my bookmarks….

Although some free themes require the blogger to keep links in the footer, they do offer a blogger an inexpensive way to showcase their work.

The last post I’m highlighting is probably the most important. It’s titled WordPress Login Security, but it applies whether you are using WordPress, or not.

In part, she shares,

You’re probably thinking why would anyone want to hack into my WordPress site? Why would they want my parenting, WordPress, or green-living articles? Well, the hackers don’t really want that data. And you can’t really apply standard login to what hackers do and don’t do. For most of them, the success of the hack is what matters – not what they are gaining access to.

Just knowing this is a great reminder for all of us to tighten up the security on our blogs.

I promise not to keep you in suspense any longer.

This week I am showcasing Kim Woodbridge of Anti Social Development.

Check out her great blog, follow her on Twitter, or hire her to help you with your next blogging endeavor.

Welcome Kim.

It’s a pleasure to know you.

Photo Credit:jdl_deleon

Category: Archives, New Blog Of The Week 19 Comments

Apr

Addicted To Blogging – It’s No Joke

Barbara Swafford

internet and social media addictions

According to a Fox News.com article titled, “One in 10 Video-Game Players Addicted, Study Finds”, it says, in part,

Researchers at Iowa State University (ISU) and the National Institute on Media and the Family found that some gamers show at least six symptoms of gambling addiction such as lying to family and friends about how much they play games, using the games to escape their problems and becoming restless or irritable when they stop playing.

Today’s Lesson

Having read the above article, I began thinking. What about other people like bloggers and those who spend an excessive amount of time engaging in social media? Do they become addicted, too?

Apparently so.

Mary articles are posted online pointing to how people are becoming addicted to the internet and to social media. Some claim it’s an epidemic and have labeled it as “Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD).

Social media addiction has become so prevalent, support groups have been formed on FaceBook.

If it hasn’t happened already, I’m guessing Twitter will be next.

We often hear bloggers joking about being addicted to blogging.

That makes me wonder, are we the next to form a support group?

Maybe so.

With blogging keeping us glued to our blogs hammering out posts, checking for comments, reviewing our statistics, jumping from blog to blog leaving comments, changing our themes, logging in to review subscriber counts and possible income from our advertising accounts, we’re a prime example of who could easily become addicted.

Not to worry though, there are now tests online to see if we indeed have a problem.

For those who want to know if they are addicted to social media sites, here’s a 14 question quiz titled, Social Media Addition Test

Upon completion of the test, there’s a widget we can add to our site showing our readers the results.

Want to know if you’re addicted to the internet? The Internet Addiction Test is available through Center For Internet Addiction.

When I look at how so many people become addicted to video games, social media sites and spending too much time online, I realize this is a serious matter.

It’s more than just enjoying the interactions and making cyber friendships.

For some, it’s a much deeper rooted issue.

Today’s Assignment

Do you feel you spend too much time blogging?

Do you think you might be addicted or see the potential of becoming addicted?

I often joke how I’m a blogoholic. I now realize it’s not so funny.

What do you think?

P.S. To read more about internet addiction, Dr. Kimberly S. Young has written a book titled, Caught in the Net: How to Recognize the Signs of Internet Addiction—and a Winning Strategy for Recovery

Photo credit: Nammer

Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons 45 Comments

Apr

Does An Ugly Blog(ger) Stand A Chance?

Barbara Swafford

Good Day Class,

Today we are honored to have David Wright of Blogger Dad as our substitute teacher (guest writer). He will be covering a subject many of us may have thought about, but we normally don’t discuss.

Since this is a longer lesson than normal, I ask that you take your seats as I turn the classroom over to David.

Welcome to the BWAB classroom, David.

The floor is ours.

ugly-blogger cartoon by david wright Dear Ugly Bloggers,

Oh wait, I’m not saying YOU are ugly, but you are being judged by your appearance.

Yes, it’s true.

Sure, the story of Susan Boyle has people suddenly waxing introspective about first impressions and pretending they don’t judge others on appearances.

Yeah, right.

But trust me when I say this, just because one Ugly Duckling has blossomed into a swan, nothing has changed. Don’t count on any rush to suddenly celebrate the average or unattractive among us. It isn’t going to happen.

Whether we like it or not, people form instant opinions based on our appearances. Studies have shown that our ideas of beauty transcend culture and may even be hardwired in our genetic makeup. Just like my love for Cookies N’ Cream ice cream.

Today’s Lesson

Fact is first impressions matter.

That goes for both the first impression your readers have of you and your blog. If either is ugly, you might want to reconsider your online strategy.

At this point, you’re probably wondering, who are YOU to give advice to ugly bloggers?

I know this will surprise my legion of readers (all 10 of you) but… I’m not a good looking guy.

At best, I’m average. I’m roughly 100 pounds overweight and I look like Kevin ‘King of Queens’ James, a guy you probably won’t find anytime soon in People Magazine’s ‘Most Beautiful People’ issue. It wouldn’t be so bad to look like Kevin James, since I tend to write funny stuff (actual reader experience may vary), except I look like Kevin James if he were about to pick up a car and throw it at you. According to my wife, I tend to appear very intense and possibly homicidal.

“WELCOME TO MY BLOG, JERK! NOW GO AWAY.”

That’s not the image I want to project on my friendly parenting blog.

Fortunately, I’m a cartoonist, so when it came time to start a blog, I decided to draw a friendlier looking version of myself. I would highly recommend becoming a cartoonist. Then you can draw yourself however you like. Heck, you can make yourself a 20-foot robot with rocket blasters on your arms and nobody would be the wiser.

blogger cartoon by david wright

1) Don’t post a photo of yourself

2) Post a photo of yourself with a bag on your head.

3) Try to capture your best feature.

4) Post a photo of yourself as a child.

5) Post a photo of your pet.

For the most part, we can’t help it if we’re unattractive. However, there’s no excuse to have an ugly blog. None.

While I won’t run away if you look like Quasimodo, I will run away if your site style pre-dates Google. I’ll also run away if, your logo is text on top of a huge gradient color bar, your color scheme celebrates all the wonders of the visible spectrum, you have more ads than content on your front page, you have flashing, blinking or scrolling text or images, or you use the Comic Sans font ANYWHERE on your site.

What to do if you have an ugly blog:

1) Check out WordPress.com for some more modern themes than what you’ll find on Blogger or LiveJournal.

2) Host your own blog, install WordPress or Joomla and choose from thousands of free or premium themes.

3) Hire someone, like a cartoonist (ahem) or designer to create a new logo or customize your blog.

4) Customize your color scheme.

Colour Lovers

Color Scheme Designer

I’ll close on a serious note to keep in spirit of this blog’s usual thought provoking quality.

While I can joke about it now, I found it hard growing up as a fat teenager. I was doomed to a life of exile from most of my peers and it was rough. However, I wouldn’t trade my experiences for anything, as they made me who I am. Because of my isolation, I blossomed creatively and became an artist and a writer. Some of my favorite artists, comedians and writers are not particularly known for their good looks.

It’s not easy being unattractive in a world where the media obsesses on and celebrates beauty.and damns anything short of perfection.
If you feel that your image will get in the way of people getting to know you or your work, by all means, don’t post your picture.

Rise above expectations and let your words define you.

Today’s Assignment

1) Do you think an unattractive blogger should post their picture?

2) Do attractive looking bloggers have it easier in blogosphere? If so, are you more easily swayed to subscribe to their blogs based on their looks alone?

3) Does a well designed, well written blog outweigh the fact the blogger is not posting their picture?

Raise you hand and share your thoughts.

David Wright is a cartoonist at I Draw Comics, a blogger at Blogger Dad writes about creativity and interviews other bloggers with Sean Platt at their online studio, Collective Ink Well, and can also be found on Twitter.

Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons, Branding, New To Blogging 55 Comments

Apr

Doing It All With Ease

Barbara Swafford

mommy blogger who does it all - wonder woman

I don’t know how she does it. She’s like Wonder Woman.

She’s a wife. She’s a mother of five boys. She writes on two blogs, is owner and administrator of a message forum, guest posts on other blogs, shares her voice on Twitter, maintains a FaceBook page and virtually meets up with other moms on Mom Bloggers Club. Whew!

When I met her through George’s Tumblemoose Writing Services blog, I was hooked after reading just one post.

When you read her work, you know she’s authentic. It’s like she’s thinking out load, and writing those thoughts. No stone is left unturned.

Prior to her first coaching lesson with Tim Brownson she wrote a post and discussed how she felt it should go. She titled it, “6 Things I Secretly Hope Are Included In Life Coaching”

…there were a few things that weren’t mentioned that I secretly hope are included.

1. Choosing a theme song for my life…

…Oh yeah, I forgot, Eye of the Tiger! Eye of freaking Tiger, man! I’ve been singing it all weekend to get pumped up. Tim didn’t explicitly tell me to do this, but it was sort of hinted at when he gave me some “intake forms” to fill out. Totally was looking for me to read between the lines there.

In her post titled, Shangri-La Diet – Week 25, she writes,

I’m not really a Mommy Blogger and don’t write much about my kids but one day I might have to do some sort of running diary of what it’s like to be at home with 4 children ages 1.5 – 6 all day long. Maybe in conjunction with some sort of fundraiser for me….

When she had a contractor coming to her house, she shared what she did before he got there in a post titled, My Brave and Inspiring Battle with Contrahension

Contrahension is a word my husband coined this morning to describe my feeling of anxiety surrounding appointments with service people in our home. Contractor + apprehension, get it?

She then goes on to say,

For today’s appointment I chose 10-12 [a.m.] because I figured it would give me enough time to tidy up but not too many hours of trying to maintain cleanliness. In an ideal world, this would just be a matter of putting the breakfast dishes away and making sure all the dirty socks were picked up from the bedroom floor.

I do not live in an ideal world.

Some of you have found her already, but for those who haven’t, here’s a blog that will make you laugh, make you think and will inspire you to subscribe. It’s I Hate My Message Board and is written Tracy.

Please join me in re-welcoming Tracy to the BWAB community.

Welcome Tracy.

I was going to say your tiara is in the mail, but with you being “Wonder Woman”, I see you already have a crown.

Photo Credit: _ES

Category: Archives, New Blog Of The Week 27 Comments

Apr

About Me – The Most Important Page On Our Blog

Barbara Swafford

One thing about buying books from Amazon is they let us “search inside the book” before we make a purchase. Often we will see the table of contents, get to read the first page or two, the back cover and they even have a “surprise me” option which takes the potential purchaser to an unknown page in the book. The process gives us enough information in order to make an informed decision to purchase or not.

The “About Me” page on a blog can be viewed as the same. When a new reader lands on our blog, they often want to know what they can expect, who the author is, and/or what the author’s credentials are. Even though the posts may be of the highest quality, if a visitor isn’t impressed with the author’s credentials, they may choose not to return.

An “About” page can either sell a blog, or sink it.

A good example of this would be a blogger claiming they’ll show their readers how to make money via blogging, but when we read their “About Me” page, we discover they are new to blogging and haven’t made a dime.

Today’s Lesson

For many bloggers, the “about me” page is often harder to write than a typical post. We don’t like to sound like we’re bragging, but on the other hand, it is imperative we sell ourselves and our work in order to grow our blog.

So, what can we include in an “about me” page to better inform our readers who we are?

1) Obviously, who we are.

This is where we want to tell our readers a little about us. The “about me” page is also a great place to share personal photographs. In the event we’re protecting our true identity, than our efforts need to be directed towards enticing a reader to want to stick around.

2) What our visitors can expect to read/see on our blog.

Whether we’re sharing articles on personal development, business, blogging, product reviews, photographs and/or a variety of topics, a statement explaining our blogging goals will tell our readers what they can expect to find when they visit.

3) Our credentials

If we’re an expert in a specific field, we can list our degrees, experience, etc.

If our blog will discuss business, we can tell our readers what our experience is. If we are a mommy/daddy blogger, we can explain we’re a working or stay at home parent with “x” number of children. If we’re young and have little to no experience in any given field, we need to let your readers know that, as well.

4) Why our blog is named what it is.

Many have asked me why I named this blog “Blogging Without A Blog”. In my “about” page, I’ve included the explanation.

5) Why we are blogging.

We can share a short story with our readers telling them what it was about blogging that attracted us, or how by blogging we feel we can help others.

6) Where else can we be found.

If we’re on Twitter, Stumble Upon or other social networking sites, we can include a link to our profile. If we have other blogs, this is the perfect place to link to our other sites so our readers can find more of our work. If we have authored books, a link to those books would not only help to show more of our talent, but could drive sales. If we offer an additional service, this is an ideal place to plug that, as well.

7) What is our posting schedule?

By posting our publishing schedule, we can alert our visitors how often they can expect to receive updates from us. This would also be a great time to suggest they subscribe via RSS feed or email and provide the appropriate links.

Having a good “About Me” page will not only tell our readers a little about us and what they can expect when they visit our blog, but by following the steps we’ve outlined for our readers, we can stay more focused on our blog’s purpose.

Today’s Assignment

Did you have a hard time writing your “About” page?

What information do you include?

When you land on a blog, do you look for and read the “About” page?

How important do you feel an “About Me” page is?

Care to Share?