Author: Barbara Swafford

In addition to making money, most bloggers want two things. Traffic Comments Unfortunately, both depend on the actions of others, and those “others” are often fellow bloggers. Today’s Lesson When bloggers make the rounds to other blogs, they’re mentally asking themselves questions and/or making choices. For example, Do I have… read more The Game Of “Either – Or”

I enjoy reading other blogs, seeing what changes bloggers are making to their sites and watching the growth of my blogging buddies. I like to see other bloggers succeed and it thrills me when I see comments stacking up on their blog posts. I know the blog author is ecstatic,… read more Call Me A Hypocrite

I don’t know how many blogs are out there, but I know it’s in the millions. I don’t know how many topics there are to blog about, but I’d guess that’s in the millions, too. Can you imagine if the world wide web limited the amount of blogs allowed for… read more Beating A Dead Fish

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… read more Use It or Lose It

Writers. Photographers. Cartoonists. Artists. Puppeteers. Historians. Coaches. Designers. Musicians. Singers. Entrepreneurs. And many more. Blogosphere is filled with so much talent. I land on sites which are so eloquently written, I feel I’m reading a novel from the New York Times best seller list where each word is so captivating… read more Writer or Blogger – Which One Are You?

I’ve kicked around the idea of writing a free ebook for quite some time. My thought is to put some of my previous blog posts into book form for those who prefer not to dig through my archives. I’d like for the comments to be included since that is where… read more Turn Your Blog Into A Book?

We can spend hours and hours searching for tools which will make blogging easier for us, or we can ask other bloggers what they use and like. Today I’m sharing five of my favorite blogging tools. Today’s Lesson Although I continue to compare statistical programs, my favorite stats tracker is… read more My Fave Five

As I was working behind the scenes on the blogs, adding and deleting plugins, I ran across an interesting one. It’s named Greg’s Comment Length Limiter. The premise behind this plugin is to limit the amount of characters a person who comments can enter. As they type their comment, the… read more Size Matters With Comments Too?

In the comments of One Blog Title – 52 Ways”, Raul of Alien Ghost suggested I write a post and have the readers pick the title. I LOVE his idea, so here it is: *****Beginning of post***** When I’m writing a blog post, I often ramble on and before I… read more Name This Post

We all know the importance of  blog titles. If we optimize them with keywords or keyword phrases, we could possibly attract more search engine traffic. If we make them catchy sounding, others may click to read more. When I published the Lose Weight While Blogging?” post, I later said on… read more One Blog Title – 52 Ways

It’s not uncommon to hear bloggers admitting to experiencing a weight gain since they started blogging. Let’s face it, if we’re sitting in front of our computers, writing posts, leaving and/or answering comments and socializing online, we’re not moving. In fact, with blogging being so addictive, exercise is often the… read more Lose Weight While Blogging?

A statement was made years ago that women use an average of 20000 words each day, whereas men only use 7000. However, after reading the article What language barrier? by Deborah Cameron author of The Myth of Mars and Venus: Do Men and Women Really Speak Different Languages?,she points out… read more Women vs Men – Who Wins The Word Count Award?

When I started blogging in 2007, I didn’t see anyone else with the name of “Barbara” commenting on the blogs I frequented, so “Barbara” become the name I signed onto blogs with. Within a short period of time that changed and I started seeing other commenters with the name Barbara…. read more Which One Are You

You know those little pictures you see posted next to comments on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites which identify the author? Sometimes you’ll hear them called gravatars (globally recognized avatars), but many just say “avatars”. I like to call them ADvatars since they “ad”vertise who we are…. read more Who’s Who In Blogosphere

If you blog, you’ve heard it; “content is king”. But what does that really mean? And, who’s to say what’s good or bad? Today’s Lesson “Content is king” seems to imply what we blog about has value, and obviously, more value would be better. But who determines that value? An… read more They Lied. There Is No King

Ask almost any blogger what the biggest challenge there is to blogging and they’ll say “time”. Time to write blog posts. Time to visit other blogs. Time to work behind the scenes. Time to monetize their blog. Time to grow their readership. Time to write that ebook. Time to create… read more What If We Had More Time To Blog

Linking is something most bloggers hear about early on. Linking to other blogs is a great way to gain more attention to theirs and ours, and linking internally (deep links) may work well to drive traffic to older posts, increase page views and improve our bounce rate. Links may also… read more Click Here

She’s not a blogger who publishes often. In fact, she calls herself the “deciduous blogger”, and says, It seems I have a natural tendency to take frequent breaks from blogging; my blog often lies dormant while I gather strength, ready to reach for the sun, put out fresh new growth… read more A Mantra For Bloggers and Writers

I’ve been experimenting with related posts plugins. The related posts plugin I have been using is “Contextual Related Posts“. However, having seen the related posts on other blogs which include thumbnails, I decided to experiment with two of those. Today’s Lesson The two plugins I’ve been testing automatically add related… read more Entice Your Readers To Stay Awhile

A couple of years ago, I had a fellow blogger say to me, “You should be a blog coach.” Not really knowing what a blogging coach does, I let it go. Then again recently, another blogger told me the same. This time I questioned it further. Today’s Lesson Not only… read more Who Am I To Tell You How To Blog?

With our business, the first contact we have with potential clients is usually over the telephone. Most times this does not create a problem, however, when I can’t differentiate a voice being male and female, it can. And…that has happened to me. I ended up addressing a person “Mr. ….”,… read more Hey, You!

I’m in the process of switching cell phone companies. I’ve looked at the website of the one I’m switching to several times and checked out all of the phones they offer. With so many choices I was excited, but undecided. Until…. I realized there’s nothing wrong with the current phone… read more Stop The Insanity

In our construction business, my husband asks the employees to refrain from using curse words when they’re in the company of clients. Especially women and children. Because it is “the client” who creates work for all of us and ultimately provides an income from which we can pay the bills,… read more S*%$+#@*.!*)& B(*!$@&

Some hope blogging will bring instant success or financial freedom. When they doesn’t happen within a month or two, they give up. Others will blog for years, enjoying just writing and sharing. But there comes a time when a blogger may ask, “Now what?” “Where is this hobby of blogging… read more Now What?

One of the first things new bloggers get addicted to is their stats. In fact, many bloggers admit they are stataholics and may even need a 12-step program. When we look at our stats and then start comparing  AWStats vs Webalizer vs Google Analytics vs Woopra vs SiteMeter or another… read more Blog Stats – Analyzing The Peaks and Dips

It’s written if you want to get your name “out there”, guest post on a popular blog. And that’s true. When the visitors of the host blog read your post, they may click through to read and maybe subscribe to yours. In many ways it’s a win-win. The blog author… read more Guest Posts – Yea or Nay?

As witnessed in the comments of the Is Blogging Fulfilling Your Objective” post, many bloggers want to either do “something” with their blog or have their blog lead them “somewhere”.   Whether that something or somewhere is to have our blog produce an income, get us a book deal, grow… read more If Success Came Knocking…

Anyone who has blogged for any length of time will admit they enjoy the sense of community they find online. In blogosphere we quickly find others with whom we identify. People who think like us. People who listen. People who don’t judge. People who show praise. In fact, blogosphere and… read more Can Life Be Better Online?

Just like other bloggers, I love receiving comments. Comments give others the chance to share their opinions. Comments also build community. But, what happens when we don’t like the words written in a comment? Today’s Lesson Have you ever read a blog post that moves you, but when you try… read more Confession – I Delete Real Comments

Depending on when you were born, you’re put into a “box” and labeled accordingly. Age groups are sometimes labeled as such: The Millennium Generation (Born after 1980) Generation X (Born 1965 – 1980) Baby Boomers (Born 1945 – 1964) The Silent Generation (Born 1928 – 1944) The Greatest Generation (Born… read more Are Blogs Dying?