If There Are So Many Blogs Then Why Blog?

OK this got posted before I finished it. My title reflects the question that is often asked. I have linked to an article from the UK that asks questions re: Wine Bloggers and how there are so many more in the US than in UK (or France or other places) even considering the size of countries.

One of the things that I took away from this is that there are many Wine Bloggers in the US - all with different opinions and they write. Some have followers some do not. Some write to that following some write for their own therapeutic value. They also learn from each other.

I guess what I am saying is that it does not really matter if there is another blog out there with the same subject, YOU will have a different way of presenting your opinion and that is what makes the world go round.

A quote from the article:  "Let's get the following disclaimer right up front: except for the consumption numbers below, I have no data to back up the following line of conjecture. It's 100% pure speculation, and I welcome any corrections or damning evidence to the contrary."

This is the author speaking and you have the same right to open your conversation.

By the way this is another writing style and page view. Check it out.

The Cultural Origins of Wine Blogging? - Vinography: A Wine Blog:

Write Blog Posts that Get Noticed | Blogging Basics 101

And she got noticed.

Melanie Nelson of Blogging Basics 101 got noticed by Mashable and that will bring more attention to her blog. You might want to check out both bloggs.

Reading this (link at bottom of post) you get insight into how to get noticed. Not only does Melanie give you good information for blogging there are links on her blog to other places that will provide more info.

Bookmark the sites (or make them Favorites) and then you begin to compile a book of you own on how to do this - blog that is.

Write Blog Posts that Get Noticed | Blogging Basics 101

How to Come Up With Great Content Ideas for Social Media

In keeping the brainstorming thought alive, here is another view on it and I believe it is quite good.

One thing we all have to do is stay informed. You must read, make bookmarks and review them. I once had a business man say to me "I don't have time to read" and I thought you are really going to miss out on some great knowledge that could one day make you business better.

Someone (?) once said "Readers are Leaders" and that can be a leader in whatever your mission or undertaking is. You could be a leader in you craft, you blog, your career. If you are retired then write a blog on the wonderful joys of retirement and become one that leads others to enjoy it also.

When you have that moment of what to write if you follow some of the thought s in this article you might find you have more to write about than you can get done. Write down those extra thoughts for tomorrow.

To me reading and learning is fun and if I can help someone it gets even better and that may be what you are doing. You are bringing your point of view to the table so that someone else can feast upon it.

Follow the link below for more great knowledge and make notes.

Read - Learn - Write - Live - Love.

How to Come Up With Great Content Ideas for Social Media

Warning: Blogging can be hazardous to your mental health - Jeremy Helligar - Pump Up the Volume - True/Slant

I love the title of this blog and after reading it, and laughing most of the way, I understand. Jeremy has a lot to say and I think says it well.

You do have to 'think' about what you say and how you say it and be sure to make it as defined as possible without turning the blog into a dictionary that won't be read. Make yourself clear. Reread what you have written before hitting the publish button, something I should do all the time but miss every once in awhile.

Keep in mind that what you post does not go away tomorrow with a new post. Your public writing is just that, public, and after you post it is now part of YOUR history and will follow you forever.

Don't put it in print (blog or email) if you do not want the world to know it.

Warning: Blogging can be hazardous to your mental health - Jeremy Helligar - Pump Up the Volume - True/Slant

Work Smart: Brainstorming Techniques to Boost Creativity | Fast Company

Sometimes we all need a little help in coming up with ideas. What are you going to write about? What do I do when the ideas run out and the mind goes blank? Maybe you need a new plan/blog or whatever. This is a good read.

The article (whose link is below) is in Fast Company and written by Gina Trapani. I am a big fan of Gina's and this is a good example of her writing skills. The article itself has good information however at the same time you can get a thought about Gina's style of writing. It is always good to read for information and then reread to see someone's style, use of words, flow. We can always learn.

One of the links in the article is to MindMeister and that is also worth looking into.

If you should be lucky enough to have Visio (Microsoft Office) it has a Brainstroming template that is pretty good and very similar to Mind Mapping. We teach Visio here at the school (New Horizons Ohio Valley).

If you want to know more about Mind Mapping you need to research Tony Buzan, the developer of Mind Mapping. It is a great tool. (the link here is to Tony's page).

You might also want to read more by Gina Trapani. From this link about Gina you can find her blogs and other work. Quite a fascinating person.

Work Smart: Brainstorming Techniques to Boost Creativity | Fast Company

Blogging - Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science

I think I have posted this link just to show that blogging has really permeated many different avenues and many different people. If you are interested in Statistical Modeling (and I know someone who might be) this could be a blog for you to follow.

What you should pick up here is that it is not just a casual paragraph or two but almost a chapter of a book. As it is written you can see that someone spent hours of time writing what they wanted to write without the goal of revenue generation. I did not see many adds on the page and I was not sure that the books I did see were adds.

Truth is it is one writer writing about another and it is interesting.

As I have often said blogging can be about having something to say and saying it. Being a part of something.

It can be about your craft, your research, your focus on life. The fact that the one individual spent hours responding to comments would say to me that he enjoyed the conversations.

That is what blogging is, a conversation. As I have stated (from Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk) "...your half of one long, friendly lunch interview." That could have also been ".. friendly lunch conversation". I highly recommend the book if you need some motivation.

Keep in mind this is also about you. It is your story, your resume. This is where you can be discovered or interviewed.

See, here I am running off at the fingers.

Blogging - Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science

Twitter power: Learning from ourselves, in real time - USATODAY.com

My favorite coffee shop @Starbucks and discovered a newspaper, remember those? Well the front page had an article on Twitter and I just had to buy the paper. It is rather quaint, buying a newspaper that is.

The article was very good and you can follow it here online. I find it absolutely amazing that on a number of occassions in the paper there were links to 'more information online'.

While reading there is also an article in the Money section on page 68, "Mixed feelings greet on-the-go Net access" that is interesting. This is something that I have mixed emotions about. I'll bet you can also find this story online.

I like being connected 'most of the time' however there are times that I just want to sit back and relax. Unfortunately these are times that I choose and some do not understand when I do not reply instantly.

Oh well. Keep on blogging.

Twitter power: Learning from ourselves, in real time - USATODAY.com

Phone Blog Update

OK AndroBlog published straight away.

Now to see how it handles pictures.

Well it appears that the picture has to have a URL. I will have to check on Picasssa and see if there is a linkable connection.

New App for Phone

The last post was created using an app named Blogaway.

This time I am using AndroBlog. The last post went to Blogger as a draft and I had to go to Blogger to actually publish.

Let's see how this works.

How To Make Money Blogging Through Google � Make Money Blogging Articles � Articles � HomeBased Blogging . com

Questions come up all the time about making money in blogging. Here is an article I found this morning and there are links. Read on and then let me know what you think. You could also add this to your reader.

How To Make Money Blogging Through Google � Make Money Blogging Articles � Articles � HomeBased Blogging . com

Working With Cell Phone

This post is being created on my phone and although I can do this its easier on the computer. This would be good in an emergency.

Back to the keyboard. If you do have a Droid or an iPhone there is a great app called ShapeWriter, it does make typing easy on a screen.

E-mail Etiquette: 8 Tips to Avoid Communication Blunders - CIO.com - Business Technology Leadership

File under Email

I may be stretching to put this into a page on blogging however it is good advice and some steps may figure into a blog post. I will have to admit that I agree with most of what Maureen Bertolo says in this article however in an email the opener should be pleasant.

To often the opening line in an internal email goes right to a power line, no hello and sometimes not even a goodbye. My personal reaction is not a pleasant one. It was like someone could not wait to hit you. So the message may deliver a dislike for the person sending it along with the message.

It's just a thought for a Friday. Read on...

E-mail Etiquette: 8 Tips to Avoid Communication Blunders - CIO.com - Business Technology Leadership

Seth's Blog: Don Quijote didn't ship

I think what Seth has to say here is what happens to a great number of people however there is also another side.

Sometimes the plan is so big that we never get beyond planning. We see the blog we are going to build to be so great that we keep on planning and nothing begins. We plan it right into the Impossible Dream.

Planning is important so is beginning. Perhaps just getting started and winning those small battles at the outset will give you impetus to try bigger things and then one day you are on you way down a wider highway.

Don't take on the big guys to start with, just start and watch the big guys. One day you just might be there but if not you will have learned a great deal by doing. Some just never do!

Seth's Blog: Don Quijote didn't ship

10 Rules to Instantly Improve Your Presentations

File under Microsoft Office / PowerPoint

This is an interesting article on PowerPoint however some of the points would work well with some blogs also.

Some of (myself included) get a little windy when writing. We go over board with text and we do not use pictures or graphics enough. Perhaps we should consider what the point is and kind of reduce down the noise. Micro blogging on Twitter would prevent that.

10 Rules to Instantly Improve Your Presentations

Cincinnati Around Town

If you are in the Cincinnati area or planning to visit here you might want to check out Gail Moe's new blog - Cincinnati Around Town. You can follow the link below to catch up with Gail.

Besides reviews there also tips that can help you make decisions. I like the Free stuff spotlight. I am into FREE it is one of my favorite economic models, I also like getting paid but that is another story.

Cincinnati Around Town

A Find and Replace trick for inserting new text | Microsoft Office | TechRepublic.com

File this under Microsoft Office.

If you are using Microsoft Word for editing your blog text this could be a very helpful little trick. It is from a TechRepublic blog that is quite interesting. Follow the link and then go to the home page and check out TechRepublic. Good information here.

A Find and Replace trick for inserting new text | Microsoft Office
| TechRepublic.com

Complete Guide to Live Blogging | How-To

Here is something that we have not ever discussed, Live Blogging. This is a good article to help you understand what and how to do live blogging.

With the tools we have today this would be easy. First my little netbook has built in WiFi that can be used wherever Verizon has a signal. Second, if you have an iPhone or a Android phone more than likely you can either download a blog app or most blogging accounts will let you email to the blog and post right from that.

Live blogging can be very interesting and if you are of a journalist mindset then perhaps this is something you might consider.

Live blogging from any event has great possibilities.

Check out the article.

Complete Guide to Live Blogging | How-To

Test And Improve Your Website - Forbes.com

This is good information for anyone creating or updating a web site. Testing is always the best avenue to go and don't just ask you friends who think everything you do is great (because they don't know what you know). Go get an outside opinion.

This process may be good for a number of presentation processes that we go through. Read this and then think about it and what you do.

It might pay to change that blog page.

Test And Improve Your Website - Forbes.com

The lazy CEO’s 10-step guide to crowdsourcing every business task | VentureBeat

Interesting thought about crowdsourcing to solve business problems and keep the cost down. I wonder if this could be used for other options within the blogging community?

Take a look and see what you think.

The lazy CEO’s 10-step guide to crowdsourcing every business task | VentureBeat

Seth's Blog: Where do you find good ideas?

This is a great short piece and not only worth reading but reflecting on. I tell everyone all the time great ideas come from everywhere so go different places, read different things, look around you.

Keep on learning and looking and suddenly you will have the next great idea for your blog or for your business.

By the way, bookmark or use your RSS reader and follow Seth Godin's blog.

Seth's Blog: Where do you find good ideas?

365 days of Law of Attraction in action

I have added a new blog to the Blog Roll on the left and that is Gail Moe’s 365 days of Law of Attraction in action. It will be interesting to watch this blog of her journey and her endeavor to make her program work.  I could become a student of her travels as it happens I have read many of the masters that she refers to.

This is a personal journal however we could learn a great deal from it. There are side pages such as About this blog and Daily deposits log. This is very well thought out and presented. 

Take a look and read along with Gail.

You can also check out Gail’s redhead communications web site for her work.

The Eponymous Pickle: Shopping at the Mall of the Future

Now here is my idea of passing the word along. The link at the bottom goes to an entry in The Eponymous Pickle blog that will pass you along to a great story about shopping in the future.

I (or you) find a story worth reading and pass it along to your readers. Making sure that you pass along the link to the blog that you saw this on so that this writer also gets credit.

In 3 clicks your are there and you have just received two more places where you just might find some great information. If you have an interest bookmark or make them a favorite.

The Eponymous Pickle: Shopping at the Mall of the Future

Choosing the Proper Blogging Software | Press Distribution

Here is a blog regarding choosing software to blog. It's final recommendation is WordPress however, from my perspective, there is a learning curve.

Some of the information in an article like this suggests that the new blogger has some technical/software background and this may not always be true.

I have always suggested that you start out using the templates provided by the blog host that you have selected and then look around. Sometimes their software would be the easiest.

Remember you read blogs to learn not just what is said but how it is said. To whom is the writer writing? Perspective? Is the professor writing for other professors(?) or for someone trying to learn?

Choosing the Proper Blogging Software | Press Distribution

16 Tips for Successful Online Video Marketing | Social Media Examiner

The article linked at the bottom of this post talks about tips for successful online video marketing.

When you think about video and are producing video you are marketing something. It may be your talent or your knowledge about something. You could be selling your services. Doing it right is the best way.

I know sometimes we have to make do with what we have but be aware of what you can do and what is out there.

16 Tips for Successful Online Video Marketing | Social Media Examiner

Deliver Better Presentations by Understanding PowerPoint's Top 3 Myths | Business Hacks | BNET

I know this is a blog about blogging however in the course of all of our lives we use different presentation tools as well as office products (Word, Excel, Outlook, Google Docs, and on and on). I thought I would include a link to this BNET Insight article on PowerPoint.

The use of PowerPoint is always being scrutinized and anything that we can pick up tips from is always handy. Go and read.

Deliver Better Presentations by Understanding PowerPoint's Top 3 Myths | Business Hacks
| BNET

Windows 7 Today

Today I am working with some mighty fine students on Windows 7. I am also getting sidetracked into blogging. Sometimes that is just the way it goes. Here is a snippet  from class.

Blogging Is Bad For Your Back

This is another good read for bloggers however you have to scroll down past the ad's to get to the story. It isn't far however it is a pain.

I have always thought the reading was the most important reason that you go to a blog (and or create one) however, like so many businesses, the attitude becomes "we do this for a living and that comes first". I thought that what you did was the most important aspect and that if you did it well the money would follow.

Maybe that is why I don't make a great deal of money however I do love what I do and in my case that is most important.

I like writing and I like supporting or guiding those who are getting into the things that I am into. Nothing is a secret. I guess my philosophy follows a bit along the lines of what Michael Fox says at the end of his new book, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way To The Future", Live to Learn.

Read the following post as I have been there. Get a good posture and position for doing a great deal of computer work or you will (or could) suffer.

Blogging Is Bad For Your Back

Growing an online gardening service - Telegraph

This is a great story about a start up and a build out and in 5 years has a pretty good following. 10,000 is not bad. 140,000 hits a month. I am not kidding when I say "this could be you".

Have an idea? Do you think you are the only one with the same garden, auto, computer, furniture problems? Do you have kitchen savvy? How about a "what to do with that old stuff" expert?

Write on.

Growing an online gardening service - Telegraph

The Steve Jobs Simplicity Test for PowerPoint Presentations | The View from Harvard Business | BNET

I know this is the Ease of Blogging blog however there are other ways of getting the message out and PowerPoint is one of them. This is a good short read on perhaps a better way to use presentation software and how to think about it. Some of the ideas could apply to anything we do in presentation.

Blogging is generally about writing however there are times when pictures can play an important role. Graphics can add visual appeal to a post from time to time. Sometimes a page full of static text looks to much like government or legal document. Break it up, add a picture, make it friendly.

You have to reach out.

The Steve Jobs Simplicity Test for PowerPoint Presentations | The View from Harvard Business
| BNET

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Sunday, May 2, 2010

I am trying once again to publish to the Ease of Blogging blog using Google Docs. I have changed back to the older version of Google Docs and it would appear that this is going to work. Something for me to test on a rainy Sunday. 

You do lose some of the new tools when reverting back however Google Docs is free and part of the package Docs, Spreadsheets and presentations as well as many other tools. You can go on the road and still do what you need to do. It is FREE and that makes it very nice. 

There are issues and one of them is placing pictures into the blog. You best be able to edit the CSS surrounding the page or your image is going to be a stand alone image. This is one of the reasons that I like Windows Live Writer - more control 

Well it is time to publish this and see what happens.