If you are looking at your analytics and wondering why you don't get any search traffic, or looking at search results wondering why you are nowhere to be found, then read on.
There are fundamental reasons why one site ranks and another doesn't, and sorry but it takes either effort or money to put right. Read the rest of this entry
I keep noticing people questioning the usefulness of Twitter while using the service. The catch is that each of these people are—usually—using the website to "tweet" throughout the day. What fun is that? After all, if you were going to utilize a web browser, Jaiku would be the better option. The reason Twitter has become so popular is because of the third-party applications that have been developed for it, and if you’re not using, at the very least, a desktop client, you are missing a significant portion of the Twitter experience.
The desktop client gives you an almost instantaneous connection with your friends. In some sense, Twitter can act as a a huge resource for live news. People that provide links to great content on the web are worth following, and I am sure that, with time, Twitter will have tools developed for it to manage and save the information. Previously, I wrote about how useful Twitter can be to the dedicated blogger, and a desktop client is the way to maximize the usefulness.
Hopefully those of you that are still on the edge of your seat about Twitter will take my advice here and check out a desktop client. It will enhance the usefulness and fun with Twitter. I don’t think Twitter is worth much at all without these various applications, and it is no wonder why so many people that are new to Twitter think it is pointless; I did as well when I first started using it. So, I have decided to compile a simple listing of the various clients you can try. My favorite is Twhirl, but there are many great alternatives as well. Read the rest of this entry
Many professional bloggers have a broad schedule that they attempt to maintain. It creates interest within your readership, and it also gives your readers a great idea of when to expect new content. This also increases your chances of generating subscribers to your content. However, there are just those times when things do not work out as planned—it is times like those when preparation really can pay off. The ability to post content at a future point in time without having to do it yourself is a great way to ensure you are prepared, but you also need to have content readily available when you might not have it otherwise.
All bloggers should take the time to create a few extra posts that are not focused on news, but are more focused on opinions or similar to that. Depending on your niche and blogging style, this might be difficult, but once you have taken the time to use these posts when you really have to, you’ll realize that the extra effort is worth it. For Performancing, I already have had three articles prepared incase I ended up needing to use them. Coincidently, I am going to be using them this week. (If you were following me on Twitter, you would know why.)
A few other reasons for creating backup content:
The primary reason for doing something like this is to maintain your consistency. Again, readers appreciate consistency, and we all have had our moments where we have slacked off in the past, but there are other times when serious problems can arise, and this is why you need to be prepared. So, are you prepared?
Last month, I wrote about various timeline tools and how they're a great way to present temporally-based information. I've been using SIMILE Timeline and MyTimeline for a number of projects. (MyTimeline is built on SIMILE Timeline.) Unfortunately, I haven't figured out how to embed videos into the timeline events in SIMILE Timeline.
Now there's TimeTube from Dipity [via NewTeeVee], which is all about presenting videos on a timeline. Enter in keywords, click the Build TubeLine button, and you'll get back an interactive timeline, aka a TubeLine, of YouTube videos tagged with your keywords.
TimeTube TubeLines have a very interesting presentation, which you can embed on a page, but there's no refined control over it. For example, here's a TubeLine for Saturday Night Live videos on YouTube:
You can actually link to specific events in the timeline - something you can't do with SIMILE Timeline. However, what I'm really looking to do is to present a timeline of all the SNL cast members since 1975, with a select video - if available - of each member. So for getting finer control, I'm sticking with SIMILE Timeline. I just wish I could figure out how to embed videos in its events.
As writing reviews teaches you brevity, writing short fiction helps you to develop non-fiction narratives that, if applied properly, could make your blogging more entertaining and/or inspiring. Brian Clark's Copyblogger post, The Snowboard, the Subdural Hematoma, and the Secret of Life, as an exampler. That post is inspirational, and has many elements of fictional storytelling woven into it - a process that can also be applied to structuring your blog posts for more impact.
That's right—I have 11,072 unread items on my feed reader. All of it pretty much equates to me being way behind on my subscriptions. I am either subscribed to too many feeds, engaged in too many other things to bother, uninterested in the feeds which I am subscribed to, or a combination of all three. It would appear that it is time to fix this problem right now.
Obviously, I am subscribed to way too many feeds, but I have to be keep on top of things. How can we solve this problem? First, I could use a feed filtering service like AideRSS, illumio, or FilterMyRSS. Next, I could use the abilities within many feed reading applications to discover content that has only the content I want within the feed (alternatively, I could exclude this content as well)—NetNewsWire and FeedDemon offers functionality like this. Finally, I use services like TechMeMe, Reddit, and Digg to get only the best news out there. Read the rest of this entry
You're saying, "my blog isn't about reviews." Even still, writing reviews helps you to learn constructive criticism - assuming that you aren't out to be purely critical. Writing short reviews help you to be more succinct. And it's not all that hard if you practice.
Over the years, I've written many hundreds of reviews, which I believe has helped me be less verbose. (Don't mistake my long, more detailed posts for verbosity.) To do the same, ask yourself, "could the same thing be said in fewer words?
Here's one process towards brevity: Read the rest of this entry
If you thought white papers to promote your business were out and blogging in, join the club. But apparently there's life in them yet. Brian Clark at Copyblogger talks about how white papers earn author Mike Stelzner $300K/year. There's an affiliate link in that post to a free video where Stelzner discusses how he got into this writing niche. There are also additional free videos and other materials via subscription, some of which Brian is part of.
The video focuses on writing white papers for your business, but Stelzner earns his six-figure income from the fees he charges for writing white papers. So there are two ways that white papers can be beneficial to you, depending on whether you're a business owner or freelance writer.
While writing white papers may not be for everyone, if you think you have the stamina to write a well-structured, expert document that's longer than a blog post, you should look into this opportunity.
Is it just me or is anyone else having trouble with certain Google applications? I've been having consistent problems with Google Calendar for several weeks now. The items on one or more calendars often won't display, no matter how many times I refresh. What good is a calendar tool that doesn't work?
I've also had inconsistent render problems with both Google Docs and Google Mail. I have no plans to switch away from GMail, unless I'm absolutely forced to. But if the calendar problem goes on for another week, I'm forced to switch. Google, you really need to get on top of these problems. Then there's the AdSense reporting problems, as Problogger pointed out.
Anyone else seeing similar problems? Has Google grown too fast for their (and our) own good?
When you're stuck for what to blog, or you're stressed out, what do you do to relax? Besides taking the dogs for a walk, I enjoy two main stress relievers: strumming on the guitar or creating "art". I'm not a painter, and I'm an inconsistent pen and ink sketcher at best. I can spend 36 hours one weekend doing a charcoal reproduction of a David Bowie photo, then I can not pick up a pen or pencil again for several years. I can "draft" objects, but that's kind of boring. However, I did discover an incredible 3D program called Bryce, which I started using around 1999.
Bryce is unlike any "low-end" 3D software I've tried - what with its photorealistic landscapes, architecture and animations. It's a great way to implement some Art Therapy, if you don't feel like the traditional method of using paint or chalk, etc. You don't have to be "troubled" to use art therapy. It's a way to relax and reduce stress, and can spark other types of creativity. Read the rest of this entry
I have been playing around with two products, WriteRoom and Dark Room, which allow users the ability to edit text in a completely isolated environment. Essentially, these editors give users the ability to focus on the text, and only the text. For the professional blogger/writer, one of these text editors might become invaluable to your writing process.
Some of you will find either of these applications to be worthy as your new primary text editor, but the rest of you will think they are far to primitive, but if you are the former, like one of my followers on Twitter, you will absolutely love the concept of being able to write without distraction.
Another user on Twitter messaged me stating that text editing tools were the last things that distracted him while writing. I find that the text editor I utilize happens to have a dramatic impact on how productive I am when writing. For example, I have a difficult time using web-based text editors (like the built-in WordPress editor), but I absolutely enjoy using an application like Windows Live Writer and ecto to write my articles.
These applications will probably generate no interest for quite a few of you, but I have already decided to incorporate WriteRoom into my workflow. It is a throwback that I absolutely love, and I am usually the one that loves the fancy interfaces.
WriteRoom is the first product that was created (as Dark Room is simply a clone of WriteRoom). Built for the Mac operating system (now supporting OS X 10.4 or later), WriteRoom was designed to eliminate the common distractions that are apparent with most text editing environments today. The application eliminates formatting, graphs, spacing, pictures, and more by focusing on only the most important aspect of a writing—the words. Read the rest of this entry
You've probably heard/read the age-old advice to writers: write about what you know. Not to be contrarian, but there are ways to write about what you don't know - or at least don't know very well - and it's a good way to learn a topic better.
Back when I was a teaching assistant in college, I found that when I taught various programming concepts, I was forced to understand them better. In a similar vein, when it comes to blogging, I find that writing tutorials helps me understand something better - especially if I do screencasts where I have to provide the narration. If you want to do the same, here's a suggested process:
Once I've done a few screencasts/ tutorials about a subject/piece of software, I find that my understanding is much deeper. I'm only guessing but I think that part of the reason is because having to write/ teach/ screencast gives you a tangible goal of what you have to learn.
Of course, it's easier to do tutorials and screencasts when you're working with software. What do you if a tutorial or screencast isn't suitable? How do you learn new topics then? That's my question to you. Got any tips or links to articles you've written about learning and knowledge? Feel free to drop them off here.
I was quite surprised when I visited Daily Kos, a very popular political blog, and I was prompted with a message that, essentially, stated I was being less than polite for using AdBlock Plus to avoid advertising. I was then informed that I could remove the message that was annoying the hell out of me for a simple subscription fee. The cost was $4 per month, $40 per year, or $100 per unlimited subscription. The interesting thing is the fact that this blog asks for $15,000 per week for a single advertising spot—amazing.
The question of ethics by people using software like AdBlock Plus to avoid advertising comes into play, but I also believe that annoying the readership with messages that tell them they are wrong is not the way to go about doing it. I feel that this is potentially a serious threat to those people who enjoy reading blogs. The authors will still make money, but the readers are the ones that will be robbed in the end.
The price is the first major concern. Is a subscription really worth the price of advertisement-free content? Some people might be inclined to pay for quality content, but when I look at the amount of content that is available on the blogosphere, it almost feels like I would be paying for something I could have for free elsewhere. I do understand the concept of supporting a blogger you really like, but is it worth creating a divide between the readership—those that pay and those that do not. I do not even want to picture what might happen when my top 10 favorite blogs want to charge $4 a month for subscriptions—over $400 a year just to read a few blogs? Are you kidding me? Read the rest of this entry
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