Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Four Major Roles of a Blogger



I’ve identified four major roles of a blogger. This list isn’t meant to be exhaustive, but I’m hoping it will give you some ideas on developing your content.

Writer
Needless to say, the vast majority of blog content is written. There are countless articles about improving your writing skills, so I won’t elaborate any further. Let’s move on to other roles.

Journalist
Blogging and tweeting have revolutionized the way we get our news. Let’s say you attend a convention or seminar related to your blog topic. Who would your readers rather hear from: you or a local news reporter? A blogger has a special connection with his readers, and he is in a unique position to share news related to his blog’s topic.

Critic
Blogging has also completely changed the availability (and speed) of consumer reviews. Whether it’s the latest movie or a major purchase, many of us go online to see what other consumers are saying. This, in my opinion, is one of the most powerful aspects of blogging—a way to help consumers wisely spend their money and other resources.

Information Broker
A good blogger is always on the lookout for high quality content related to her topic. Such content can include YouTube videos, news articles, helpful links, etc. Her blog can become an information hub of sorts—she finds the best “stuff” on the net, which saves time for her readers.

Summing it up:
I’m sure many of you are already doing all of the above. If not, maybe I’ve given you some new ideas. Remember—high quality content is the goal (regardless of the type of content). Keep this in mind and you’ll continue attracting a loyal audience of reader.  Maybe I'll expand on these roles as I have time.  

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Entrecard: Paid Ads Coming Back?

I got this email today from Entrecard:

We are pleased that many members are taking advantage of Entrecard services and that Entrecard is able to help users increase traffic to their blog. However in order to continue providing this free service, we will be taking 15% of our entire ad network inventory for sponsors as of Sept. 28, 09. This is a standard business model used by free advertising networks. The revenues generated by our sponsors will help cover overhead expenses and keep our service free to all our members for years to come. To keep things simple and fair, all ads will be distributed evenly in our network. We are currently working on a feature that will allow users to disable sponsor ads that may conflict with their blog. This will be available in a few weeks.


Please be assured that we will screen all sponsor ads to ensure that they meet our guidelines. All sponsor ads WILL be family oriented, and will not promote nudity, violence or anything illegal.

So paid ads are coming back? I guess it's better than that 50/50 split they had before, but I'm still not coming back to EC anytime soon.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Blogging T-Shirt

This one would be really fun to wear to a blogging seminar or conference.

Friday, September 11, 2009

The Future of Beginner Blogger Tips

I'm still not sure exactly what to do with this blog.  There are so many "blogging blogs" out there that I doubt I'll ever get ranked up there.  I also doubt this blog will ever get significant traffic or make money.  I could be wrong--we'll see. 

What I've done so far is just write down things that I've learned about blogging.  I'll probably continue to do that.  And I don't think I'll drop this blog--it's actually been a handy place to store information, such as solutions I've found to blogspot glitches. 


If you can't beat 'em . . .

But getting the guest article posted over at problogger.net has given me some ideas.  I may use my future blogging ideas as a way to get traffic and page rank "juice" for my fitness blog.  Here's what I mean: I may try submitting more blog articles to other blogs with a link to strongandfit.net. This may be more useful to me in the long run than trying to compete with all the blogging blogs.

Just thinking out loud.  

FaceBook Light

Interested in checking out Facebook Lite?  Here's the address:
http://lite.facebook.com/

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Mobo Ergonomic Computer Station

This little invention comes from a former high school classmate of mine. Here's the product website:
http://www.getyourmobo.com/

http://www.blogsurfer.us

I ran across http://www.blogsurfer.us/ while checking the stats for my strength and fitness blog.

It's a pretty interesting concept--a dynamic blog directory which automatically "surfs."  The site also gives you perks for mentioning it on your blog (which is why I'm posting this).   

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Ivy Bean, 104, World's Oldest Twitter User

Ivy Bean, 104 years old, has seen a lot of changes in her lifetime. But she's embracing new technology and connecting to people all over the world.

The Glamorous Blogging Lifestyle


Blogging has been good to me.  Work hard and you, too may live in luxury like me. 

Monday, September 7, 2009

Facebook Acting Weird

Anyone else notice some strange happenings in facebook right now?  I'm seeing old post re-appearing.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Guest Post@Problogger.net

I was very happy to hear the problogger accepted my guest post.  Here it is:

Hobby Blogs: Making Profits From Your Hobby

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Blogger for Dummies sitemap

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Public WiFi and SideJack Attacks

Just in case you don't read my personal blog, I posted an article about "sidejacking."  It happened to me a few days ago--I was using wifi at a mall and someone gained access to my gmail account. 

Just click here to learn more:
Using WiFi at the Mall?  Beware of Sidejack Attacks