Author: Barbara Swafford

When I first started blogging I would see the word “meme”. Not knowing what it meant, I looked it up. Wikipedia says: A meme (pronounced /meem/)[1][rhymes with dream] consists of any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that gets transmitted verbally or by repeated action from… read more It’s All About Me, It’s All About You

Reviews of any kind (paid or unpaid) are great ways for bloggers to generate traffic. Today’s Lesson Product and/or book reviews can help to increase traffic (to our blogs), and may even make us a few coins in the process. Although I don’t do many product reviews on this blog,… read more Book And Product Reviews Generate Traffic

Most people have heard of the law of attraction (LOA). It was written about extensively in The Secret. I credit reading “The Secret” to me launching my blogs. The Law of Attraction claims, that which we think about most, we draw to ourselves. Think positively and more positive (things) will… read more The Law Of Attraction In Action

Yesterday, as I was working, I overheard the TV in the other room. The subject for the Oprah show (it was a rerun), were people who lost massive amounts of weight. The first guest’s story intrigued me, so I got up to watch the segment. Nancy had weighed over 700… read more Blogging – Secretly Affecting Lives

If I have my math correct, this is the 19th New Blog of the Week I have showcased. If you’re new to this series, I try to find new blogs on a variety of subjects to expand our reading and learning experiences. A new blog is featured each Tuesday. This… read more NBOTW Wants You To Love Your Job

Blogging reminds me of each of us, stepping up on our virtual soapbox and telling others what we think/feel. Some bloggers tell stories of their day, and tie a lesson in life to it. Others do tons of research and share their findings A lot of bloggers share from their… read more Those Are Fighting Words

We all have days when the words escape us, we feel uninspired, tired or just plain unmotivated to post to our blogs. On those days, bloggers either don’t publish a post, or they dig through their drafts and quickly do an edit. Today’s Lesson Last week I was intrigued by… read more Be Inspired By Nothing

In business and in life, we leave what’s called a paper trail. On the internet, it’s called often referred to as an electronic paper trail. Most transaction we make, can be followed. Our bank statement shows how much money we have, and where we spent it. Credit/debit card records are… read more Blogs – The New Electronic Paper Trail

It’s called “link love” Bloggers create a link to another blogger’s post as a reference or to show gratitude. Some bloggers will spend many hours adding links to posts. You’ve seen them, “100 links to the best of …..” I did one of those too, it was titled: “1066 Links,… read more Links Show Love But Do We Click

She writes about relaxation and why “Your Clutter Hates You” She taught me to be less hard on myself. I have been known to procrastinate, especially when it comes to my least favorite job in the office – filing. I felt I needed to have everything perfect in my office,… read more NBOTW Teaches Simplicity

Have you ever visited a blog, read the post and all of the comments, but didn’t feel comfortable commenting? I have. Blogs can be that way. The author publishes their post for the whole world to see, and often others leave comments. A conversation develops between the author and their… read more No Comment

If I had a dollar for every time I (figuratively) banged by head against the wall while learning blogging, I would be rich. It’s no wonder bloggers get stressed out and aren’t always sure how to grow their blog. In yesterday’s post we learned how addictive we become to spikes… read more When Is Enough Enough

Remember when you first started blogging? An increase of one in your visitor counts or feed readers was exciting. Then you discovered Digg, StumbleUpon, and Twitter. By a submission of your site to popular social networks, you saw your blog growing by the hundreds. Today’s Lesson I remember those days…. read more Social Meth – One Taste – You’re Hooked

I’m bending the rules for this New Blog Of the Week (NBOTW). The blog is over four months old. It’s the subject matter of this blog that brought me to this decision. She writes in a niche I haven’t seen before. It’s not about productivity, or inspiration, nor is it… read more NBOTW Goes To The Dogs

We all want our blogs found and would love to have a steady stream of traffic. For bloggers, finding a way to meet this goal, usually tops our list of priorities. Today’s Lesson When I started blogging, I often felt like I was talking to myself, or just documenting my… read more Can We Ever Know Too Much About SEO

My childhood was pretty simple. We lived in the country and walked a lot. As kids we played outside, jumped rope, caught frogs, played hop-scotch, make snow angels, had chores to do, and when we went inside, we were welcomed by the scent of a home cooked meal. For many… read more What Happened To The Good Ole Days

Like any business/profession, blogging has a language of it’s own. An article or story, is considered a post. Amenities that are added onto a blog to make it perform better, are called addons, widgets or plugins. You read about robots, crawlers, and spiders. The list goes on. Many of the… read more Oh That Blogging Language

If we relax, release our thoughts and let them flow to our fingertips, the results can be phenomenal. Today’s Lesson I love getting comments on my blog. I carefully read each one and attempt to construct “just the right answer”. Comments inspire me to share my opinions and/or what I’ve… read more Write On

He writes stories of clowns, and stories of how to take life a little less seriously. He thinks we all need to be more playful. Isn’t that great advice? One important lesson he shared is highlighted in his post titled: Getting Your Hands Dirty For me, a big part of… read more Clown Around With The NBOTW

“Why did you choose the name “Blogging Without A Blog?”” This is a question Natural, of Thinking Out Loud, recently asked me in an email. Today’s Lesson: When I knew I wanted to blog, finding a domain name was the first thing on my list. I brain stormed with myself,… read more The Name Says It All

Have you ever joined a sales company that ended up being a pyramid scheme? I did. The one I joined had something to do with phone cards. I don’t remember the details, but from experience, I learned, if sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Today’s Lesson Bloggers… read more Build A Pyramid – Increase Blog Traffic

As a new blogger, you’ll read how easy it is to set up a blog. Let’s look at WordPress. Their homepage says: 1. Find a Web Host and get great hosting while supporting WordPress at the same time. 2. Download & Install WordPress with our famous 5-minute installation. 3. Consult… read more New Bloggers Are Being Scammed

Outsourcing your blog, or parts of it, is actually quite common for some busy bloggers. Today’s Lesson: As Catherine Lawson points out in a recent article, outsourcing is a great way to save time in all aspects of your life. Although outsourcing does cost money, if the cost outweighs the… read more Outsourcing Your Blog – Never Say Never

Have you ever noticed how some things are right under your nose, but you can’t see them? This week, I encountered that problem. I’ve been on my weekly hunt for my “New Blogger Of The Week” (NBOTW). I visited most of my usual haunts, did Google searches, clicked on dozens… read more NBOTW Will Set You On Fire

A year of blogging taught me so much. It’s been a year of challenges, laughs, headaches, and joy. The one thing I never expected was that my writings would be so well received. As much as I can share all that I learned from my first year of blogging, I… read more A Thank You And A Recap

I couldn’t end this series without talking about making money with blogs. Most bloggers start a blog with money as part of the equation. I did. However, the truth about making money with a blog is often misleading. Search online and you’ll find many sites, e-books, or “subscribe to this”… read more Blogging – Year One – Lesson Twelve

The amount of blogs online grows by thousands every day. There is no way we can read, or even find them all, but we try. Over the past year, I’ve read hundreds of blog posts (possibly thousands). There’s some good stuff out there. In the beginning, I remember reading posts… read more Blogging – Year One – Lesson Eleven

We learn about blogging from many sources. We have access to many free services, software, plugins, themes, photos, and most of all, knowledge Even before I went live with my blogs, I spent many hours pouring over articles written by other bloggers. I was amazed at how others were so… read more Blogging – Year One – Lesson Ten

Zen is her niche. Harmony is her name; a name that projects a sense of peace and well being. Her blog delivers the same. I found her in Hunter’s comment section. Since then, I’ve been following her work in my reader. She writes with flair, approaches life issues head on,… read more NBOTW Finds Harmony

B-2, I-25, G53, O-68. BINGO! It’s been a long time since I played Bingo. For those who have never played the game, the object is to get five numbers in a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal line. Sometimes you may play “four corners”, or a game when you must cover all… read more Blogging – Year One – Lesson Nine