Blogging...Four Great Resources.

Here are some interesting recent technology/industry news developments that effect our blogosphere.

engadget (yes, spelled in all lower-case letters) is a site you should keep your attention on for latest developments.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/30/official-googles-quest-for-700mhz-is-so-on/
Today's development, titled "Official: Google's quest for 700MHz is so on" is particularly interesting because it shows that no matter who wins this auction, "American consumers...likely will see more choices than ever before in how they access the Internet."
Check out the article. The comments on Digg are also insightful, however, let me warn you that there are some with impolite language issues (I don't know why their vocabulary has to be so narrow).
http://digg.com/gadgets/Official_Google_s_quest_for_700MHz_is_so_on


TechCrunch is a site that is amazing with new web/technology development announcements. Keep your eye on them as well.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/11/30/google-trialling-openid-with-blogger-may-offer-openids-to-users/
Today's development, titled "Google Testing OpenID With Blogger, May Offer Open IDs To Users" shows that if you are already with Blogger, you may be receiving more benefits soon, from better traffic, advertising, etc. (if I understand it correctly...I am still learning the technical terminology.
Check out the article and comments, as well as the comments on Digg. This helps to round out the material based on different usage perspectives.
http://digg.com/tech_news/Google_Testing_OpenID_With_Blogger_May_Offer_OpenIDs_To_Users


SIGMA Infotech, has a great article of interest.
http://www.sigmainfotech.com.au/articles/change-web-design.html
This interesting article is titled "Things to consider before you change your web design". Their main points are, 1) consider the impact of a new web design, 2) employ a competent website designer, 3) don't change the website URL's, 4) consider the advantages of database driven systems. They expand on all of these topics with interesting detail and all of these topics can be applied to blogging as well. For Digg comments please refer to the following link.
http://digg.com/design/Things_to_consider_before_you_change_your_web_design


HRWorld, posted another great article regarding Web Workers.
http://www.hrworld.com/features/100-toolboxes-for-web-workers-112907/
This article titled "The Toolbox Toolbox: 100-Plus In-Depth Resource Collections for Web Workers" represents a list of great tools that I plan on researching for use with my blogging. Some readers don't like lists, however, this one is chalk-full of great resources to enhance your productivity. Check out the article. You can check out the comments on Digg as well, however, again let me warn you of not-so-polite use of language on the comments (unless the submitter has buried the inconsiderate comments)
http://digg.com/software/100_In_Depth_Resource_Collections_for_Web_Workers

These are my helps for today. I hope they are of service to you. I'd love appropriate comments with appropriate language content.

Thanks for your readership.

Money Left In The Blogosphere?

I've just added Feedburner to my site. I will let you know in future posts how this works for my blog. Here is their link.

http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/home

As you can see from the changes on my sites, it has added a "subscribe" feature for email subscriptions for each post, as well as widgets to add me to other items. Right now, I am just toying around with them to see what looks good on my site and see what works.

One thing about feedburner that attracts me is that they can keep track of my traffic flow and analyze it for me, all for free.

Again, I will let you know how this addition turns out functioning for my blog.

On the topic of the success of blogging and traffic, here is a link to an article that I found fascinating.

There's No Money In The Long Tail of the Blogosphere
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/blogosphere_long_tail.php

I choose to argue with the article in that, if someone is consistent, which is the downfall of many in the industry, they can have success.

Of course, consistency includes researching regularly, writing regularly, networking regularly and tweaking your template/site and advertising regularly, all of which are very time consuming.

A great system is to look at a site, i.e., TechCrunch, and model your site after theirs. Watch how they advertise, how often they post, etc. See how this works for you.

Until tomorrow...happy blogging!

Blog Networking Tools

When attempting to network your blog to the public for consumption and to attract advertisers, good networking sites are a must have.

Thus far, here are my test results. Of course, my testing is still on-going with other sites and I will give that information once the testing is of enough value to share with those searching for success in blogging.

Digg
http://digg.com/
Digg is possibly the best sight out there for serious networking if you intend your blog for public consumption. Your networking time will need to be reciprocal with your built-up "Friend" network so that they, in turn, will also have success with their blogs. This is all part of positive networking and making and keeping great relationships with your networking contacts. There is serious time involvement in this venture, however, it does pay off and there are fantastic people on Digg who will support your blog and give you great feedback. So far, this is the most user-friendly sight that I have been involved in, and therefore it has held most of my attention.
Once you read this article, if you would be kind enough to go to Digg and digg the article, that would be of great service to me and my experience. Thanks for that.

Technorati
http://technorati.com/
I am still getting to know this site and the usability of it. I understand from my research that it is important to involve your blog on this site if you would like it to become successful. However, it is much different than Digg and I may have to update you on the outcome of my venture there. I have both of my blogs listed there and have moved up on their rankings scale, which is great. However, I have had trouble with their posting area for articles and such. Still, once you read this article, if you could please click on my favorites button located on my blog for Technorati, I know that that will eventually benefit me. Thanks for that.

Researching these sites and using trial and error is the only way that I figure there can be success in this venture. This, along with reading blogs from others' experiences doing much the same thing.

I hope that this information (although short) helps you in your quest to network your blog and I appreciate any comments and/or suggestions that you may have regarding to topics I discuss on this site or regarding the presentation/appearance of my blog. Thanks for that.

Have a fabulous evening.

Blogs...Great Articles, Interesting Tools

Recently, I've been trying a variety of tools and networking sites for developing my two blogs...

http://issuesoncall.blogspot.com/
http://maxyourping.blogspot.com/

...and have results regarding a couple that I should share and in return I ask for your feedback regarding your results on these tools and networking site options, along with suggestions.

I mention four below.

Blogger
http://blogger.com/
...a great tool with great templates and ease of use. With this site, you are able to develop your blog with great ease and FREE OF CHARGE, including the fact that you don't have use another domain to host your blog. This is a great opportunity for getting a feel for the blogging market, and I am testing the limits of how long and how far Blogger will work for me and my needs. I love Blogger!

MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/
I tried to use this tool to start blogging about the content currently on this site (http//maxyourping.blogspot.com). However, I've learned that MySpace is not so much about blogging and much more about social networking. This is not a site I would use to post a serious blog with serious articles. I would not recommend using this site for networking unless for social (singles type social) reasons only.

Adsense
http://www.adsense.com/
...another great tool, especially when used along with Blogger. Options with this tool are such that there are multiple types of ad links, sizes, options. I am still playing around with the types of ads, sizes, appearance. So far, the tool is very user friendly.

AdsDaq
http://www.adsdaq.com/
With this tool the user is supposed to make more money than with Adsense. The HTML from Adsense is supposed to be used as back-up, in the case the AdsDaq ads are not available and you replace the Adsense HTML on your weblog with the AdsDaq HTML. As far as compatibility, the ads are supposed to be compatible with Blogger/Adsense. However, I tried this over the past few days and the AdsDaq system messed up my Adsense ads. Additionally, when I checked back with AdsDaq, a message stated that Blogger would not accept the code/ads. This leads me to believe that they were not so compatible. In addition to that, this set back my earnings on Adsense due to the overlay code, diverting my clicks to AdsDaq. If someone else has had a better experience, I'd love to hear about it.

Here are some articles that I highly recommend regarding today's topics (yes, I dugg them on Digg).

Sponsors and Advertising, by Problogger.net
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2007/08/27/find-a-sponsor-for-your-blog/

30 Must Read Articles To Help Kick Start Your Blog, Attract More Readers, And Stay Motivated, by mytropicalescape.com
http://www.mytropicalescape.com/2007/11/14/30-must-read-articles-to-help-kick-start-your-blog-attract-more-readers-and-stay-motivated/

You may find that things work for you that don't seem to work for me. I'd love you to share your experiences with me in my comments.

Have a great day! Happy Blogging!
Technorati Profile

Introduction, Tools For Blogging

The following was a post I wrote on my blog at...

http://issuesoncall.blogspot.com/

I decided to start this site with it, giving a glimpse into why I decided to dedicate a blog to this type of information.

When starting a venture into weblogging, many bloggers wish to share their weblogs with the Internet Universe.

How do you get your blog past your immediate friends and family members?

Of course, Digg is a great site for networking. However, the following are other sites that have given me a plethora of additional information to add to my networking collection.First, here is a site with a ranking list of networking locations for your weblogs.

Blog Network Lists

http://www.blognetworklist.com/topnetworklist.php

Second, here are some more networking opportunities to maximize your blog coverage.

Technorati http://www.technorati.com/

Yahoo Publisher (Beta) http://publisher.yahoo.com/

Alexa http://www.alexa.com/

http://www.alexa.com/browse/general/?&CategoryID=1422529

Google http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&q=data+network&ie=utf-8

MSN Spaces http://home.services.spaces.live.com/

In addition to the sites listed above, articles from the following locations deal with maximizing weblog coverage and monetizing your blog.

If your like me, you really feel like your writing is an output of your reading (or other hobby or trade) and you're learning the weblog technology as an creative outlet.

The monetizing will be "icing-on-the-cake", so to speak.

My real goal, is to consistently improve my writing skills and to create a network of others with the same interests to gather writing material from and to present my writing material to. (This, in addition to my competitive nature of watching the numbers increase of those reading my materials on my site and constantly trying to maximize that number:)

Here are the articles of interest for maximizing your weblog.

I placed them on Digg when I first published this post. I hope they help someone who may have some of the same questions and/or curiosities as I have had.

Creating a New Blog Network - Hiring Bloggers
http://www.sohaibthiab.com/index.php/archives/129
Blogging Done Right
http://www.paolomendoza.com/2007/11/blogging-done-right.html
http://blog.icalvyn.com/freedomain
Many Titles from this location...
http://www.problogger.net/

Obviously, there is much information out there, and there are many different styles for each blogger.

The lessons I am learning are many, including some of these simple ones...

...pay attention to the quality and content of your writing
...pay attention to the comments from readers, as it is a signal of your writing content and quality needing improvement or change
...pay attention to your ads and their content, daily, along with the traffic they are bringing to see when you may need to adjust them to bring in more revenue
...pay attention to the traffic flow to your weblog and use daily time to network your site
...pay attention that you balance your investment in time that it does not take your passion away from your writing and/or from the topic(s) you wish to share.

I thank all of those who have been so brilliant in creating the technology so that I can meet a network of great and generous minds on a global scale.

Without the work of the technologically savvy, I would not be able to get to know such great people as I am now able to interact with.

Thank you for reading my articles and for being a part of this journey. I hope that this information is helping you as much as it is helping me.

Have a great evening!