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.

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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

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.

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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

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?

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Outlining an article is one of the most productive things you can do to improve your workflow while blogging. Creating the outline for this article required only about two minutes to complete, and it will have saved me at least 15 minutes worth of editing time in the end on a typical article like this.

Ironically enough, it was only yesterday when I tried to write a short article without creating my usual outline. I spent around 30 minutes trying to reorder the content correctly as I didn't want to start over. In the process, I nearly decided to scratch the whole article, but I have heavily revised it since then and will post it soon. This is why it is important to create an outline for all your articles.

My Outline Process

I have never before attempted to define my outlining process for writing, but I will do so as I best can right now. I have broken it down into four steps, and it is fairly simple—nothing too mind blowing here. Still, some people fail to do anything like this, and it is a shame that the short time planning out an article is skipped, but then more time is required to get the finished product.

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Let's be completely honest for a few minutes—there is a plentiful amount of crap easily found within and around the blogosphere. I know it, and you know it. Perhaps it is the fact that we are hammered with such a great amount of poor quality material that there is such a grand desire for people to find quality content and bloggers. It is a very interesting dicussion.

Sturgeon's Law (Applied To The Blogosphere)

Sturgeon's Law states that 90% of everything is crap, but I think that number is overly optimistic when considering the blogosphere's status. As a matter of fact, I think it is more likely to be at least 95% or more. However, I will still, reluctantly, give the benefit of the doubt to Sturgeon's Law. I hope that the blogosphere does not take this as an insult, but if you are reading this blog, then you are well on your way to avoid becoming the typical noise within the blogosphere—I am here to turn that noise into a beautifully constructed harmonic.

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I have a few things for bloggers to toss around inside their brain for a few moments. It is something many of us do not think about, but then again, do we actually need to follow a set of rules? Regardless, the question is—are bloggers journalistic?

But first, what is Journalism? Journalism as defined by Wikipedia:

Journalism is the discipline of gathering, writing and reporting news, and broadly it includes the process of editing and presenting the news articles. Journalism applies to various media, but is not limited to newspapers, magazines, radio, and television.

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I am like a hawk when it comes to news feeds. While I don't have thousands of feeds to monitor, I do manage to keep an eye on the big players. What does this have to do with anything? Well, it is a prelude to the fact that after I see something from a paper like The New York Times, I also end up seeing similar content from blogs. Most likely those blogs are using that very story. This is a natural progression of many blogs—especially technology, political, culture, gaming, and financial blogs; among others. However, I do have an issue when these blogs fail to do something that keeps things honest.

This means that, reluctantly, I have to point out the fact that many bloggers—even some of the more respected amongst us (I won't disclose names)—fail to give proper credit to their sources of content. I also notice blogs only crediting other blogs for sources. This all becomes a giant problem as we must ask ourselves a few questions—where exactly did this content originate from?

Now, is most of what the blogosphere doing illegal? Absolutely not, and I don't believe it should be, but I do think there needs to be some sort of standard set for things like this. I want the professional blogging industry to keep things honest and fair.

This is why I urge all bloggers to give credit (in the form of a link; even a simple text link at the end of a post is sufficient—in my opinion) when posting content that originates elsewhere. There are also other scenarios where you should give credit for content that is being used under fair use laws.

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Cases in which you should give credit:

I have recently jumped into the Twitter madness—check out my Twitter page if you don't believe me. Not only is it a fun addiction, it is actually a useful tool for bloggers as well. So, why should you even bother with Twitter? Did I mention it is an addiction?

Ah yes, it is that very site which provides you the opportunity to express yourself within 140 characters or less. Twitter is quickly becoming a big deal, and it is an opportunity for bloggers to reach out interactively with others. Think of it this way—no longer must you sit and wait for people to visit your blog. You can connect to people instantly.

Many people don't even understand why Twitter is so appealing (others don't have the slightest clue as to what it is), but those that realize the true potential of Twitter will have another tool at their disposal to help them build their image, reputation, community, availability, etc.

Twitter was designed to be a mini-blogging service, but that is only the beginning; it has many more potential uses and benefits. Now is the time to consider joining the fray!

Why Tweet?

1. Loyalty and Respect

If you want to be a popular blogger, there are ways to build up loyalty within your readership—one that is relatively easy to accomplish is by making yourself accessible to your readers. Twitter is probably one of the most exciting and interactive ways to do just that. You are accessible, you show that you are openly responding to people, and you become interested in your peers' activities. You will earn respect and loyalty by many people this way.

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When you arrive at many restaurants, you are given the option to order appetizers, main courses, and deserts. Some people will enjoy all three, but others will go straight for the main course. I tend to follow the latter way of doing things as I want to get straight to the point. This is just as true with most people scouring the web for content, but many bloggers make the mistake of wasting the reader's time with unnecessary content.

It doesn't matter if you take a single paragraph or ten paragraphs to get you point across—each word, sentence, and paragraph should be clearly and concisely written. When people read a magazine, they generally expect lengthy, in-depth articles, but when people read a blog, they expect to get the information fast. If the reader wanted all the information, they would go right to the source.

Too Much Data!

The internet is a place where a single chunk of information can be massively spread within hours, and the bloggers that can get right to the point are the ones that will usually come out the winners. It is pretty much similar to how real newspapers work–all publications want the big scoop. Obviously, most normal bloggers are not getting the scoop, they are just sharing their thoughts about existing news, and this is part of the reason as to why blogs are so popular.

Think about it—bloggers are essentially competing (for a lack of a better word) against thousands of other bloggers, and many people subscribe to numerous blogs. People just don't have the time to dedicate several minutes to reading a single blog entry, and this is made more true if you are posting several times a day. If it took an average of three minutes to read 20 blog posts on various blogs, that would add up to at least an hour of reading time!

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If you take a good look around on the web, you will see media of all types from a wide range of people. Today, text is the most prominent—in recent years, blogs have prompted the average person to write content that can be seen by millions of people in a matter of hours or even minutes. However, the recent desire for video content must prompt many to question how commercialized blogging will fair in the future.

Commercialized Blogging Right Now

Blogs are an outlet for advertisers to spread the word about their products and services. This means that the content producers have a way to generate money. The more people that view the content, the more people that will view accompanying advertisements. Companies like Google have been able to take advantage of this.

Also, blogs are prime targets to be advertised on because the content on them can instantly be analyzed, and relevant advertisements can then be served to the readers. Each page on a blog is a new advertising opportunity. It works.

However, if we take a step back from everything to view the bigger picture, we all realize that video content on the web has caught on. Great sites (like YouTube and Vimeo) and better connections are giving this media format room to explode in growth and popularity. Some people even spend their entire days on sites like YouTube, and advertisers are determined to keep up with the people's interests.

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Woopra is a new startup that is doing something quite impressive with typical website analytics. While there is only so much more information that can be gathered with current analytics platforms, one of the most popular ways to improve is by enhancing the interface and display of data. Currently in beta, Woopra does exactly that.

My first impressions lead me to believe it will be an impressive application, and it is just so much fun to know exactly what visitors are doing instantly. The signup process was pretty easy, but if you decide to join, you will have to wait to be approved. After getting everything squared off, I installed a few lines of code to the footer of my site, and I was ready to go.

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Is your blog making money? Got some spare time? If either of those questions are true for you, then you might consider reinvesting some time and/or money into your blog. It makes sense to continue pushing your blog to the limits, as it is almost a waste to settle for anything less.

Here are a few ways to reinvest your time and money you have earned back into your blog:

Advertising

Advertising might be worth a try if you feeling somewhat outgoing. This is especially true if you have an idea for a great advertising campaign—it might be worth the bigger bucks to advertise your site on various ad networks. I know it works as I have seen numerous bloggers successfully take a barren or new blog and make it popular by utilizing successful advertising techniques and services.

If you do decide to pursue advertising, remember, never put all your eggs in one basket, and always take the time to evaluate the effectiveness of your advertising so you can re-allocate your focus accordingly. Certain niches will always perform better on specific advertising networks. This is why diversifying your advertising efforts will reveal what works and what doesn't. When you find what works, you now know what to do.

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BlogPerfume has created a very nice feed analytics tool called Feed Analysis. This tool allows you to view statistics at various timeframes from your FeedBurner feeds. Unfortunately, there are not many solutions for feed analysis available from some recent searching which I have done. However, I recently found this tool, and it is a definite bookmark for anyone that has a FeedBurner account. I have been using it for the past few weeks, and I think you might enjoy it as well.

Interface

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The perception of someone is an amazing thing in our culture. People perceive others in very special ways because of how they represent themselves. This is also true for bloggers, and if you want to be the big shot blogger, you have to walk the walk. The authoritative blogger asserts himself or herself as thus.

I believe a blogging authority is an author that people will look to for advice, commentary, and information on any particular subject discussed by the author. This person should also earn the respect of a majority of his or her readers, even if they do not particularly agree on a particular issue. However, all people have the potential to become an authority.

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Although I only recently joined Performancing, I have taken great interest in the site. That is why I want to help Performancing be successful. There would be no better way to do that than helping this site to achieve consistent growth. Well, Performancing has been doing just that for the past year. As a matter of fact, Performancing has been gaining roughly over 400 subscribers per month over the past 12 months. I am a statistics freak, so this these numbers just make me excited.

As a result, Performancing will exceed 10,000 subscribers very soon. This news is great because it means that—along with the Performancing staff keeping our jobs and satisfying the sponsors—we can continue to create amazing content for more new, amateur, and professional bloggers, just like you, that have taken the time to read what we fellow bloggers have to offer. This blog is for bloggers by bloggers, and I am confident that we will be doing even greater things as the 2008 year progresses.