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22
Aug
Use It or Lose It
Barbara Swafford

I found an article on Dr. Mercola’s website titled: 12 Surprising Signs You’ll Live To 100

One of the “surprising signs” is:

You embrace techie trends

Learn to Twitter, Facebook, or Skype to help keep brain cells young and healthy. Stay connected to friends, family, and current events, and you feel vital and relevant.

I like the part where he says, “you feel vital and relevant”. That’s important in everyone’s life.

Today’s Lesson

Speaking of using our brains, according to an article on the University of Connecticut Health Center site,

“The old adage of ‘use it or lose it’ is very important. For cognitive activity, which affects everything from memory to how we think, there is increasing evidence that the more we use our brain, the better we age….”

Some of you who are young may not take this into consideration, but for bloggers from the baby boomer generation and beyond, it’s important we think of how we’re using our brains. How we’re exercising them.

Fortunately blogging does that.

  1. It keeps us connected.
  2. It gives us something to look forward to
  3. We read more
  4. We write more
  5. We think more
  6. We learn more.

Another plus to blogging; age is not a factor.

Take for example, the following three women who held the title as “The World’s Oldest Blogger”; women who were in their 90′s and 100′s.

The one I remember best, because I had visited her blog, is Olive Riley (1899-2008). Although her blog is no longer online, you can see video clips of her on YouTube.

María Amelia López Soliño (1911-2009) was another blogger who held the title and was written about in this article; Spanish granny dubbed ‘world’s oldest blogger’ dies.

In one of her last postings in February [2009] she said: “When I’m on the Internet, I forget about my illness. The distraction is good for you — being able to communicate with people. It wakes up the brain, and gives you great strength.”

According to Wikipedia, Ruth Hamilton (1898-2008) was also named “the world’s oldest blogger”.

Unfortunately the above three bloggers have died, but others are following in their footsteps. We have,

  1. Life Begins At 80

    2. A blog written by a 91 year old retired journalist.

  2. Bisher Unleashed

    3. Written by Furman Bisher, a well-regarded sportswriter and editor who was born in 1918.

  3. Granny To The Rescue,

    4. A blog written by Eleanor McCallum, a woman in her early eighties.

These elderly folks probably aren’t worried about being included with A-List bloggers, but their commitment to blogging shows us it’s never too late to go online, share our knowledge and in the process continue to use our brains.

Today’s Assignment:

How has blogging improved your mental processes?

Are you following the writings of any elderly bloggers?

Care to share?

signature for blog post

Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons  Tags: , , , , ,  45 Comments
03
Nov
A.S.K. Darren Rowse – Problogger – How To Become A Six Figure Blogger
Barbara Swafford

darren 1 199x300 A.S.K. Darren Rowse Problogger How To Become A Six Figure Blogger
If you blog, you’ve most likely heard stories of how A-list bloggers are pulling down a six figure income. Reading those stories is one reason many are attracted to blogging. They, too, would love to quit their day job, stay home, blog in their pajamas, and watch the dollars roll in.

Making money fast on the internet is often glamorized as an easy thing to do. But, if we do our homework, we realize there’s more to making money with a blog than just throwing up some ads and waiting for our readers to click and/or buy.

Part of doing research on making money on line is asking an expert their viewpoint. So, in part four 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 A.S.K. Darren Rowse Problogger How To Become A Six Figure Blogger

I asked

My readers would be very disappointed is I didn’t ask you about making money with a blog. Realizing many things have changed in blogosphere since you started, if a new blogger approached you today, and asked how they too, could become a “six figure” professional blogger, what advice would you give them?

Darren answered

The first thing I’d say is to get a ‘real job’ to sustain yourself while you build your blog. It doesn’t happen over night. For me I had a number of part time jobs that I slowly gave up over a couple of years while my blogging income grew.

Secondly I’d say build a blog on a niche topic that you think advertisers would pay to align themselves with. You want to build a destination on the web with authority, influence and reach on a specific topic.

Lastly – build trust with readers. This means building relationships, being relatable and making personal connections. When you do this people are more likely to become loyal to your blog but also to respond when you promote affiliate products.

Reflecting On The Answer

Thank you Darren for sharing your answer with us. Contrary to what others write, it’s refreshing to hear making a quick buck on the internet is not as easy as it sounds. As in real life, it takes hard work, time, and a “stick to it” personality.

As I reread Darren’s answer, what stands out (for me) is the part where he says we need to “build a destination on the web ….”. How I understand his answer is our blog(s) must become the “to go” and possibly a “how to” place for answers. Just like in business, we are building our reputation; a feat that does not happen overnight.

Today’s Assignment

Having read Darren’s answer, what part resonated with you?

Will his answer change how you blog?

If so, how?

Let’s continue this discussion of making money with our blogs in the comment section. Having heard Darren’s answer, I’m anxious to hear your response.

6d61b32587b54553fb32d6e3f55d87d6 A.S.K. Darren Rowse Problogger How To Become A Six Figure Blogger
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Read other answers in the A.S.K. (Answers Sharing Knowledge) series.
A.S.K. Darren Rowse of Problogger – When Do We Know Our Blog Is A “Winner”
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

Category: A.S.K., Archives, Blogging Lessons, Interviews, Making Money  Tags: , , , , , ,  33 Comments
20
Oct
A.S.K. Darren Rowse – How Does A Problogger Deal With Comments
Barbara Swafford

darren 1 199x300 A.S.K. Darren Rowse How Does A Problogger Deal With Comments

I don’t know about you, but I love getting comments on my blog posts. Granted, they do take time to answer, but for me, there’s nothing better than the sense of community that forms in the comment section.

Recently I’ve noticed some blog authors have totally closed their comment sections and others close them for certain posts. A few blog authors never answer their comments, and some answer each and every one.

I was curious how Darren Rowse, author of Problogger and co-author of ProBlogger: Secrets Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income A.S.K. Darren Rowse How Does A Problogger Deal With Comments deals with his comments, so in this installment of A.S.K. (Answers Sharing Knowledge) series,

I asked

Many blog authors stay active in their comment section. It appears you prefer to be more elusive. Was this a decision you made early on, or have other factors influenced you to not be a part of the discussions?

Darren answered

This is something I grapple with on a daily basis. Unfortunately as my blogs have grown and comment numbers [have increased] it gets harder to maintain being able to interact with comments as I once did.

The other factor is that I’ve found that over time my readers have stepped into the place I once occupied and have begun to answer one another’s questions etc. I guess it’s about building a culture of conversation on your blog.

Reflecting On The Answer

Thank you Darren for taking time out of your busy schedule to share your answer.

Darren points out a factor we don’t always consider when we begin to blog. Will we be able to continue to answer comments when our blog expands?

Recently I’ve been thinking about what I would do. I haven’t come up with the perfect answer.

What about you?

Todays Assignment

Do you think a blog author should respond to answer each and every comment?

What would/will you do when answering comments takes up so much of your time, you’re left with no time to publish posts and/or maintain your blogging activities?

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

6d61b32587b54553fb32d6e3f55d87d6 A.S.K. Darren Rowse How Does A Problogger Deal With Comments
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Read other answers in the A.S.K. (Answers Sharing Knowledge) series.
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
Category: A.S.K., Archives, Blogging Lessons, Comments, Interviews  Tags: , , , , ,  64 Comments
06
Oct
A.S.K. Andy Bailey – What Was The Inspiration Behind The CommentLuv Plugin
Barbara Swafford

andybaileypicturepassportsize A.S.K. Andy Bailey What Was The Inspiration Behind The CommentLuv Plugin

First, let me introduce Andy Bailey. He is the developer of the famous CommentLuv plugin and has kindly agreed to participate in my A.S.K. (Answers Sharing Knowledge) series.

It’s not often a developer of a plugin stays as active in the progress of a plugin as Andy does. Since its inception, Andy has updated the CommentLuv plugin many times, with each update making it better than the last.

For those who use the plugin, the latest update includes a red heart. Hover your mouse over the heart and it will show more about the author of the comment, their avatar and what sites they’ve been visiting. (See question number two for the specifics.)

Let’s get started and listen to how and why Andy developed the CommentLuv plugin.

1) CommentLuv has become the most popular plugin used for building community on blogs. As the developer of this plugin, what inspired this idea?

Thanks for saying it’s the most popular! I hope it will continue to be a useful tool for bloggers to install. It always surprises me when I check the stats to see how many people are using the plugin; at last count it was processing up to and over 150,000 comments per day! It’s funny to think of how it started as a simple plugin for WordPress owners and WordPress commentators only. Since then, I’ve made quite a few updates to it and I think the latest version 2.5 CommentLuv is the most stable, compatible and feature rich version yet.

I made it partly as an opportunity to take my PHP knowledge a bit further, but the main reason was for comments and traffic. They seem to be the first things a blogger wants to get for their site and if I could provide them with a way to get more comments and traffic, then it would be a worthwhile project to do and may even increase my own traffic from the people using it.

It started last year when a widget called blogrush came out to display links to other blogs similar to your own. It was supposed to increase traffic for your site, but I thought it had its faults, mainly the fact that the more traffic you got, the more links of yours got shown. It sounded good at first but it seemed to be more beneficial to sites that already had a lot of traffic rather than the ones who needed it most.

I thought a better idea would be to link to the people who comment on your blog rather than some random site that happens to already get a lot of traffic. This way it can increase the amount of comments because of the incentive of a titled link and if more blogs use it and you comment there, it can increase your traffic too, all without doing anything extra than what you already do with your blog and your visitors.

I was pretty sure it would encourage comments and it would help to see what the blog visitors were posting about and give something back to them at the same time. Plus, I was interested to see if I could code it myself. (ever the geek I am!)

I spend the majority of my online time either on my own blog or at my commentators blogs. I am a busy guy so I don’t really have the time to log on to all sorts of social networking sites just to see what my visitors are up to. I wanted a little bit of community/social linking without having to leave my own site or the long process required to maintain a blogroll, so I guess you could say I made it because I’m too lazy to log on to social sites! Also, it feels nice to make something useful (even better when they post about it on their own site!) :)

2) You’ve recently updated the CommentLuv plugin to include a red heart. Can you elaborate on why you did, and how this feature can help bloggers?

I put the heart option in to give visitors to a Commentluv enabled site a bit of interaction with the page or posts commentators. I know on many occasions I look for other things to click when I’ve finished reading a post or after I have commented. Having the heart info box there helps me decide where to go next. Plus, I think it’s another incentive for someone to comment when they visit, and it also builds on the community feel of a site if a visitor can see the profiles of who comments at your site and what other sites they comment at. All without leaving your blog until they see a last blog post they like where they can click and do it all again.

Sometimes I follow a last blog post to a site and see they use CommentLuv too, so after reading their article I click on one of their commentators last blog posts and so on. Doing this can keep me going through CommentLuv sites until I go full circle and end up on the blog I started with. Having the heart and profile box enhances this even further by allowing me to see details of all the other commentators too. Things like noticing certain people popping up again and again at other CommentLuv sites make me realize how much of a community there is amongst bloggers. And of course, everyone likes to see their avatar and name displayed on someone else’s site!. I’m pretty sure it will help to generate even more traffic and comments which is what the plugin is supposed to do for a site owner, and seeing it happen to more blogs than ever, all from something I made myself is really satisfying. I feel kinda famous :)

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to talk about CommentLuv, I’m always open to ideas for improvements or features so let your readers know they can visit my support forum or the ComLuv.com site if they have something to ask or tell me.

You can download the 2.5latest version of CommentLuv at ComLuv.com where you can also register your url and take advantage of the extra features for members on CommentLuv enabled blogs. You can also enter a description of your site to be displayed in the heart info box and specify things like your default cache age, feed location and more.

In Closing: Thank you Andy for taking time out of your busy schedule and answering my questions. I also want to express my appreciation for developing the CommentLuv plugin. Personally I appreciate it, and I know the readers of Blogging Without A Blog are grateful, as well.

Today’s Assignment:

Knowing many of you use the CommentLuv plugin, how has it helped you in your blogging activities?

Join in the conversation and share with others how using CommentLuv enhances your blogging experience. I’m looking forward to your answers.

6d61b32587b54553fb32d6e3f55d87d6 A.S.K. Andy Bailey What Was The Inspiration Behind The CommentLuv Plugin
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Photo Credit: Andy Bailey @ FiddyP.co.uk
Category: A.S.K., Archives, Comments, Plugins and Widgets  Tags: , , , , , ,  52 Comments
02
Oct
Biggest Misconceptions About Blogging
Barbara Swafford

362201147 8bd2ef0dd8 300x300 Biggest Misconceptions About Blogging

Remember the days prior to starting your blog(s)? It was pretty exciting.

Did you read how you can make money online? How some bloggers make a six figure income?

Do you recall the stories of how bloggers used their blogs as a stepping stone to becoming published authors, public speakers, and/or well known in other ways for their work?

Today’s Lesson

I remember those days. It was just over 18 months ago.

I read a few blogs, did some online research and had a mental picture of what blogging was all about.

Boy was I wrong.

For one thing, I actually thought traffic would be easy to acquire. Wrong!

I also thought I could makes buckets of money with my blog. Wrong!

And, I thought blogging would be just like other hobbies of mine. Hobbies I dabble in, “when I feel like it” or have a little extra free time. Wrong!

For one thing, traffic building is something that takes time. Whether using SEO (search engine optimization), link building, blog carnivals social networking, or other methods. people don’t come to a blog just because it’s there.

Making money? If I remember right, it was almost 9 months before I got my first check from Google. As for the other affiliate programs I signed up for, I’ve yet to meet some of their minimums. When a minimum is $25.00, and I’ve been at this for 18 months, I know I’m either doing something wrong, or all the hype is just that, hype.

Blogging as a “typical” hobby? Not so. I can’t stay away from it. In fact, I’m addicted to blogging.

The one thing I do not remember reading about was “community”. THAT is what brings me back to my computer every morning and keeps me close by all through the day, and into the night.

It’s the people who frequent my blog. The friendships I’ve built. It’s the comments and emails I receive. It’s the blogs I find and visit. It’s the support I feel in blogosphere; the kindness, consideration and compassion.

Although it was other factors that lead me into blogging, it’s something much greater that keeps me hooked. It’s something that is priceless.

Today’s Assignment

What are the biggest misconceptions you have found with blogging?

Has blogging taken you on a path you hadn’t expected?

Feel free to share you thoughts and let us know how the misconceptions about blogging has changed your viewpoint.

6d61b32587b54553fb32d6e3f55d87d6 Biggest Misconceptions About Blogging
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Photo Credit: AMagill’s photostream

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Category: Archives, Blogging, Blogging Lessons, Comments, Making Money  Tags: , , , ,  54 Comments
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