ComputerHunter.org |
|
|
|||
|
 |
Im a Failed Blogger!
I've never been popular in my whole life. I think there must be something inside me that didn't get enough attention as a kid or something because I seem to find myself looking for it all the time. I think about some of the career paths I have walked down: I've been a musician, a pastor (who gets to get on a platform and talk to people ? getting attention ? even if I do have something selfless to say ? I like the feeling I get when I feel like people "get it" ? anybody else have this in common?), I've been a stand-up comedian (here, there's a real pressure to get people to like you because if they don't, they let you know fast). I even started "blogging" because a lot of great bloggers are out there and they seem to know how to type just the right things to get lots and lots of feedback. Heck, I figured I'd tried everything else, why not see if I get some feedback, too. And you know what I found out? Blogging is frackin' hard! And what is the whole point of a blog? To get comments. Yes, it is! You know good and well that to write things because you have to simply "get them off your chest," you could write in a diary or a journal (by journal, I mean, the "book," not the "webjournal"). You could even type it on your computer and save it away in your "My Documents/Private Diary of 2 am Thoughts." Nobody would ever have to see it. But, you don't. Why? Because we have something inside us that wants people to give a crap! We don't want our thoughts to remain silent. Especially controversial thoughts. Why? Maybe because controversial thoughts gain ATTENTION! And with attention comes what? More feedback. And I am no different. Musician. Artist. Comedian. Pastor (Actually, I should use the word "Preacher" here instead of pastor.). And now, Blogger. The only difference is that nobody reads my blogs. Well, if they do, they rarely comment on them. I got fired because I blogged. I wanted attention. I got attention all right. And you know what? I still blog! Why? Because I'm an idiot? No, because I figure somewhere out there, somebody might just care enough about what I'm saying that they'll comment back. Maybe even get a whole revolution of blogs going. Who knows? Maybe I could be one of those "Expert Bloggers" ? you know who you are, if you are even reading this - that draws conversations and big dialogues over at my blog because I'm just cool enough to get people's attention.Only I'm not cool enough. And I've commented on other blogs. My, oh my, how I have commented and "prostituted" myself all over the blogosphere. Who cares, I guess. Some guys (and gals) are really popular. They can write, "I had an orange today," and they still receive thirty-five comments ("Hey, Me too!" - by JoeBlogg, among thirty-four others saying, "Hey, I love oranges!"). Nothing for me, though. Sadly, I actually make up my own comments and put fake names on them just so if by some chance somebody comes along and reads it, they'll think, "This guy must be cool. He must be popular. People are commenting on his." Sadly, I have done this before. I'm a failed blogger. I could hang my head in shame and bow out gracefully. But, I will probably continue to post these random thoughts because somehow, it means something to me. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow, somebody will see it and the whole "Emerging Pilgrim Blog Revolution" begins. And if not, maybe I'll just take it on the road. Time once again to hit the Comedy Clubs. At least there if I don't get laughs, I'll get some food out of the deal. Bryan Thompson is a humorist and living in Marianna, FL.
Google News - Top Stories
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Blogs and Journalism The world has seen the emergence of a new style of journalism, based on a 'raw feed' directly from the source. And the common notion that surrounds the emergence of serving 'raw feed' is that the journalists testing the new waters are bound to wreak havoc on institutionalized media. RSS Latest News - Blogging or Blagging? The RSS latest news suggests that RSS can stand for 'Really Simple Syndication', 'Rich Site Summary' or probably other interpretations of the acronym. An RSS tool is one that can deliver the technology where it is required. How To Use RSS Correctly There is no doubt in my mind that RSS is here to stay. RSS is a simple and effective means of communicating your message to your visitors without invading their privacy or spamming them. It has many benefits over email and there have been many reports of the death of email due to the continual rise of mass spamming and non delivery due to spam filters. By no means is email dead, it is still the best personal communication method besides picking up the phone. It's just that RSS does some things much better than email. Blogging Dollars in 7 Hours or Less Need to make money fast, but you don't want to spend a single cent to establish an online business? Fret not, dear friend. You could actually start earning from the web with zero capital, zero obligations and zero risks! All these can be accomplished within 24 hours! Read on and I'll show you how. RSS Feeds and How to Use Them RSS feeds are the most important technology to arrive on the internet since blogging, yet take up of RSS feeds among webmasters and web visitors is still very low. The Sunday Times recent ran a survey to see how home users use the internet, RSS did not appear in it at all. How To Profit From Your Home Business Blog A blog is a simple tool which all affiliate marketers should be utilising to explode their affiliate sales. Is Your Site Ready For The Coming RSS Revolution? Recently, there have been many developments in the RSS arena. Changes that will make RSS a major force on the web and a dominant contributing factor to your computing experience. Online marketers should pay special attention to the RSS wildcard in any future marketing ventures. Why Blogs Have Become the Search Engine Optimization Equalizer ALEXA WEIGHS IN... Shared RSS - Syndication for the Rest of Us RSS Syndication or RSS Newsfeeds (RSS Feeds for short) all refer to the same thing. There are two parts to the process, the publisher, and the consumer. The publisher produces a small text file in a special format that lists the title and address of an article or resource published on the World Wide Web. The consumer uses a program, usually called an aggregator to read and display the contents of that simple text file, with links to the web page. Or the consumer may visit a website that includes an aggregator program, and view the results as a web page. Members of Yahoo.com, for example, can set their personal 'My Yahoo' pages to display the contents of any RSS feeds they select. Benefits to RSS RSS streamlines communication between publishers and readers. Since RSS has had a popularity surge, webmasters have been experimenting and using RSS feeds to deliver content in new and innovative ways. Typically, RSS feeds contain news headlines and content summaries. The content summaries contain just enough information without overwhelming the reader with superfluous details. If the reader is interested and wants additional information they can click on the item in the feed, accessing the website which contains additional details. RSS readers aggregate multiple feeds, making it easy for individuals to quickly scan information contained within each feed. Feeds are generally themed, allowing users to opt-in to feeds that are of interest. How to Get Started Blogging in 5 Minutes or Less I put off starting a blog for a long time because I thought it would be hard. I thought it would be technical. I thought I'd have to install scripts and tear my hair out getting them to work. At that point, most of what I'd read about blogs and RSS was just so much geek-speak. Displaying RSS Feeds on Websites Displaying RSS RSS offers webmasters a unique opportunity to display fresh content on websites. While publishing an RSS feed is a great way to generate site interest and increase communication, syndicating and displaying feeds from related relevant sources can also generate interest, increase traffic and improve search engine ranking. The Fearful, Ignorant Guy Has Got A Blog On The Internet - It Must Be Easy! Of all people in the world I was easily one of the most pessimistic about computers, the Internet and now that I even know they exist-blogs. I think blogs are pretty cool but I never thought I could have one. I thought the processes of getting a site; domain name and the actual building of the blog would just be out of my league. I'm a complete novice when it comes to technology, but I do like writing a journal, and I thought having a journal on-line would be both fun and make life simpler for me. No more writing with pens, other people can read my stuff and comment on it, and I could add pictures to illustrate my points and make things look more interesting. Blogging Your Way To Success Part 2 (Continued from Blogging Your Way To Success Part 1) What Is A Blog? - A Beginners Guide to Understanding Blogs A blog is short for weblog, which simply means a website that is updated frequently with new information and is organized by date and submission. Blogs are typically a way of journalizing information whether it be personal, business, or what have you. It's like an editorial and a journal all mixed together and available online for constant updates and submissions. Internet News Services Explode Online It seems no matter how much information comes available online, people thirst for more. What the Heck is a Blog? Everybody is talking about blogs. They are everywhere: on the TV, in the newspapers, and all over the internet. With the number of blogs doubling every five months, there is no stopping the power of blogs. How To Add Random RSS Content To Your Site Most savvy internet marketers will know how important it is to have fresh content added to their sites on a daily basis but the problem sometimes is to find the time and/or content. Adding an RSS feed is a good way to add fresh content to a site, but the problem again is that most of them only get updated on a weekly basis. 6 Ways That Blogging Can Save You Money Even though I've had several personal blogs for years, I've only been officially business blogging since 2003. So in going back over expenses for the last quarter, you can imagine my shock when I realized that my overall business costs were down about 19%. What saved me so much money? Surprisingly, blogging. How can you save money with your blog? It's pretty simple, so I'll be brief. Attract search engine traffic without paying the big bucks If you want Google, Yahoo and MSN to pay attention to you, blog. It doesn't have to be a whole new site, just add a directory to your existing site and start blogging. Most blog software solutions are either cheap or free. And you can find out most basic blog information online for free (really, sometimes just typing your question into Google will do it.) by people who've actually done it. For less than $100, you can build a small library of blog tips and secrets, written by successful business bloggers. Instead of buying links, get one-way links from blog search engines and directories, as well as getting your RSS feed content displayed at other sites. Linking is a great way to get search engine attention and click traffic. Some people get links by trading; others by including their links at the end of freely distributed articles. Others pay to be listed, or to get linked. In each of these scenarios, some type of trade takes place, money, free content, or a link back. When you blog, you'll find plenty of search engines and directories that are willing to list you free of charge. For the most part you won't need to link back - you'll get a one-way link from site favored by search engines, often using text that you select yourself. If 90 or more of these free, legitimate links back to your site is worth your time, then get you blog in motion. Not only that, if you update frequently, other sites may want to display your RSS feed content on their sites. To encourage them to do so, put a link on your page with instructions on how to do so. Ever since I put one on the front of my site, various feeds from my main site have turned up in the most unexpected places. Cheaper way to study your audience. As your blog gets more popular, you may start to find that on any given day, you have a representative cross-section of prospects and clients at your site. If you have a question for them, you can just... ask. True, you can post a link to a survey in your newsletter or on your site, but these are not as interactive as the ability for your audience to comment. They will comment, and you can reply to ask them to expand, or clarify. Conversation gets going and before you know it, a bond is formed, a much stronger bond than occurs in a one-way conversation. Cheaper (and faster) way to start a resource or authority site. Five years ago, if you wanted to start an authority site, your best bet was to build a portal with a specialized directory at its core. Three years ago, you were better off starting a forum with a resource section attached to it. Last year, your top bet was a feed-enabled content management system, especially as more parts of content management systems began to have content feeds related to them. (I have 12 feeds for each of my PHP-Nuke based sites, though they don't work as well with Google Tap.) Now, if you want to be the expert, you want to start a blog. If you're blogging consistently, you have a hub of information collected that will inspire return traffic. You have a collection of links to articles, sites, and tools. You can constantly write up your own opinion editorials on each of these items, as well as fact-based analysis of news and events that can help your audience make better choices. As blog software matures you can now categorize, and alphabetize your links, and with the ability to ping multiple sources as well as leave trackback links to other sites, you can send your readers through a ring of related, freshly updated information that ultimately leads back to you. Spend less money on advertising as your blog becomes more popular I can't promise you that you'll never spend another red cent on advertising costs. However, the amount of free advertising you get from having your blog link or RSS feed listed in dozens of search engines and directories, and popping up in feed readers is not to be underestimated. You'll probably still want to do some ezine advertising when your new ebook or software release is debuted. But you may not need to buy as much advertising or purchase as often. Then there is the fact that many newsletters that are also published to RSS feeds have wider reach. I've found that it's worth the extra money to appear in both versions ? ask your favorite publisher for details. For publications that allow this, it's normally only 20% extra Save money by retaining visitors You've probably heard a thousand times that it is easier to sell repeatedly to an existing client than it is to find a new one. So how do you get that visitor to come back, and possibly buy again? A constant stream of new information on a particular topic work is enough to keep people buying a daily newspaper, subscribing to a magazine or viewing a television series. Frequent updates can work the same way for your site. With bloggers being named People of the Year by Time magazine last year, if you're not blogging in 2005, you're going to be left in the dust by other sites in your industry that do. It doesn't have to take up a lot of extra time, and the time it does takes is made up for in the money you can save. How To Republish RSS Feeds On Your Website In this article I am going to cover some tools that you can use that will allow you to publish RSS feeds on your site. This will allow you to have fresh, updated content on your site and you have control of what sort of content you display and how often it is updated. First off if you do not know much about RSS or feel you require more information take a look at this RSS publishers FAQ and then rejoin us again later. There are several ways you can go about publishing RSS content, two of which this article will cover are using third party software that will take care of the RSS republishing for you. The second is to use some freely available PHP code to generate your RSS pages. If you do not what PHP is or have little knowledge or PHP or programming then I would recommend that you use RSS Equalizer which takes care of the complicated stuff for you. RSS Equalizer produces HTML format pages that it has transformed from the RSS feeds it is using as its source. RSS Equalizer is a PHP script that runs from your server so you will need to make sure your host can run PHP, most web hosts do. Once installed and set up RSS Equalizer can be left to parse content from the RSS feeds and produce a readable HTML format pages on your website. If you have any programming experience or know a little PHP then there are some other free tools that you can use. These PHP scripts will allow you to parse RSS feeds and if you know PHP will give you more options for customisation. These tools are http://www.geckotribe.com/rss/carp/, http://lastrss.webdot.cz/ and zvonnews.sourceforge.net/zfeeder.php. If you have the time and feel you can handle the PHP then the free PHP scripts above will be your best option. If you neither have the time or the inclination and want the hard work already done for you then try out http://www.newsniche.com/trk.asp?trk=10 (RSS Equalizer), its not free but it's the best option for the non programmer.
|
|
|
|
|
