Damien at the Speed of Life – DATSOL

I started “blog hopping” this afternoon and there were so many loading and spelling issues I just had to stop. The great thing about blogs and self-publishing is that I have access to every Tom, Dick, and Jane out there writing content. That is also the not-so-great thing. Because anyone can publish a blog and get it “out there” there are some real eyesores that I have to bellyache, I hope I don’t offend anyone:

1. Homonyms misspelled: to=preposition too=Modifier of degree two=2 / there=place their=possessive they’re=contraction they are You/You’re: Your is possessive. “Is that your hat?” You’re is a contraction for you are. “You’re wrong.” Then/Than: “Then you’d like to go over this later rather than right now.” Its/It’s: Again, possession is the name of the game when it comes to its.
2. Too much on sidebar=long load times. Do you really need all that stuff? Take inventory and dump the stuff not helping you achieve your goals.
3. A completely untouched free theme. Come on now, can’t you at least put a feedburner brick in there to make it your own? How will we know it’s not spam? Take a little time to read a tutorial on Wordpress, html, php, or tweaking themes in general.
4. Less than 60 word posts. Why waste my time?
5. Poorly designed. Columns overlap etc. Take your writing serious enough to put it in a nicely structured theme.
6. Cussing. I just don’t like it. I think I have one cuss-word in my blogs and it’s like damn or something. Dooce can bite me if she doesn’t like it. I’m me, she’s … well, her.
7. Flaunted, unbridled, giddiness. Ever catch a load of this in your travels and assume you accidentally became a member or something you weren’t invited to read?
8. I apologize in advance for this one but I just have to say it because it bothers me in an irrational way: When I just did a paid OPP and come to find the same person did it with 1/2 the quality and probably got approved and paid the same as me who spent a long time. (I’m a grouch huh?)
9. Angry posts with no real point.
10. and finally … my last gripe about blogs out there is: pop-up-blog-newsletter-subscriptions (esp. seo ones) !!!!
11. Okay, I lied … one last gripe: Bloggers in Southern California who have motorcycle accidents and don’t call motorcycle accident lawyers Los Angeles. Why not use the best? ;)

Got any gripes about blogs these days?

To keep track of the several income sources these blogs now have I like to do little progress reports sometimes around mid-month.  I know a lot of new bloggers out there reading could benefit by these posts, plus they help me stay focused on the important stuff to reach my monthly goals.  I want to give a shout out to my newest bloggy buddy Justin over at DragonBlogger.com He is really doing an impressive job toward his goals in a short time of his blog being live.  Another nod goes out to Katelynjane who has kept a really great blog for a while and lately she has achieved more of her goals than ever.  Another blogger I am excited to network with is AllRileyedUp.com she just migrated from a Wordpress.com and so far it’s been an exciting transition to watch. I am honored to be able to assist with and enjoy the growth of these three content-filled up-and-coming blogs.

Okay, back to my 3 blogs: If you’re new to these posts, you can read an explanation of my CAN blog rating system here.  The full post of September 2008’s goals I reference in this post is here.  This is a mid-month “check-in” on their progress toward monthly goals.

PFTFF

C – 6/20 incoming links
http://confidentwriting.com/2008/09/writing-advice-from-the-blogosphere/
http://www.itmightbelove.com/2008/09/02/chores-and-kisses/
http://dereksemmler.com/2008/09/08/speedlinking-sweetness/
http://www.dragonblogger.com/2008/09/blog-victim-stolen-content/ http://catatonickid.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/drumroll-please/
http://www.dragonblogger.com/2008/09/adding-google-analytics-wordpress-blog/

A  – 3,117/4000 visitors Wow! Some Stumbleupon spikes this month have helped.

N – $60/$400

I’ve got a ways to go with circulation and net.  Analytics is very well off already.  Nice to have something I can rest on.

DATSOL

C – 4/10 incoming links.

A  -  242/1140 visitors

N  -  $7/$50

DLP

C  – 2/3 incoming Links

A  – 163/500

N  – $9.63/$40

This are the “halfway mark” results Watch how I do in the rest of September. 

Besides the elementary rules of usage, there are some elementary guidelines of composition, or writing, that can make any blogger better.  If you’re reading this, you probably have a great style and just want to make it better.  Let’s face it though, there are a lot of blogs out there that really need some help.  Ironically, I don’t think they’ll be tuning in :(

This post suggests a template idea that helps me every day.  Just to reiterate, I get the ideas for these posts from Strunk and White’s “The Elements of Style.”  Just like there are some technical “constants” of good blogs, so there are constants of writing worth looking into.

Create a template and stick to it. I have gone through many templates for my blog posts.  They have all shared one thing is common: links to other posts on my blog and links to external blogs either in my blogroll or ones I have run across and found interesting.  Stumbleupon is an excellent tool for storing these links and then retrieving them later.  I will share my basic template I use when creating blog posts:

Introduction: A catchy sentence(s) that can serve as a stand alone teaser.  About 160 characters because most search engines don’t pick up beyond that.  It should promote what follows.

Body: 1-5 paragraphs.  Each paragraph should be about something distinct.  They should not be too long.  I’d say no more than 4 sentences max.  Blog readers’ eyes get bored fast.

Conclusion: Try to include a question or request for a response.  This stimulates comments.

Links: 3 internal links, 3 external links

This is a very basic outline, but it gets the point across that you should analyze and create a template and then stick to it.  Your readers will notice and read with greater ease and interest.  With daily serious blogging, templates are almost a non-negotiable.

What do you think of choosing a suitable design for posts and sticking to it?

The Elements of Style calls these the “Elementary Rules of Usage.”  These are common errors you see literally everywhere on the internet.  I’ve listed the ones from the Elements of style in my own words and created some examples for each.  I most commonly see.  I hope they help as a reference for you in this series.

Form the possessive singular noun by adding ’s

The car’s headlight was out.  Angela’s bike got a flat tire.

A very common error is mistaking it’s for its.  Its is a possessive pronoun whereas it’s is a contraction combining it and is.

The dog was sleepy as evidenced by its droopy eyes.

It’s a great thing to be a blogger.

Another very common error is in the homophones: there, their, and they’re.

there=a place, a location. I looked all over there for my keys.

their=possessive pronoun for them, they.  They forgot their scruples and bought Amway.

they’re=contraction of the words they and are.  They’re great friends and always have been.

Finally, another homophone common error is the use of to, two, and too.

to=preposition, direction.  The arrow points to the highway.

two=number

too=a degree of intensity.  That song was too loud.

This ends the basics of usage for bloggers.  What other rules of usage do you know of that are commonly broken on blogs?

Here’s some great stuff I ran across last week.  Give these posts a stumble if you like them.

A Simple System To Keep Financial Records
This is a great innovative idea from my favorite finance blogger. Try it, I am.

What! | The BenSpark
A cool picture Ben took of a praying mantis.  Ben takes and publishes a photo a day.

Create Your Photo Mosaic | SimplyDunn.net
Dunn gives us another amazing online resource for making a cool thing.

How to Become a Better Blogger 5: Your Online Presence & one cool…
Some great tips on building an online voice and presence with your blog

Back to School Romantic Ideas
Hey, you know how the stress grows when the kids are getting back to school. Read Chelle’s post to get closer with your kids. And thanks Chelle for the linkback to my blog in the post.

Dream Job Titles | Growing Happiness
This is a great thought. Head over and read this, then think about how you could “alternatively” classify your role in the world.

My Guest Post up at “The Man Page”
I guest posted as a teacher over for the Man Page. Derek was nice enough to let me open up on a subject I am passionate about: taking your kids out of school or vacations.

C.A.N. Blogging Goals and Progress – August 2008
I detail my progress toward goals last month, reveal my net income through blogging, and give a few reflections on what worked on all 3 of my blogs.

Writing Advice From The Blogosphere: Labor Day Blog-Lib | Confident…
This is a clever way to do link love for the week. Joanna is a great writer and here she gives us writing coaching along with recognition/networking of some other bloggers (including me!)

Doors for Depression?
The Catatonic Kid has created another visual and provocative post … with only her words. What is depression? Chime in and leave a comment as to your opinion.

The Juice Is Worth The Squeeze & Derek Semmler dot com
This saying is very appropriate for my friend Derek who recently had so many people Digging and visiting one of his blog posts that it shut down his server. These are his after-thoughts.

See you on the next Blog Safari!

For a long time I’ve wanted a static IM chatbox in my sidebar and today I finally chose one. I tested every one on this list of 10 and found MeeboMe to be the best hands down. It has great features, good looks, and best of all it is integration with the major IM clients. I am a Yahoo! Messenger user myself and the transfer was seamless.

There are many other ways to interact in real time with your visitors besides chat. I also have researched a few ways to properly get “Asides” into my sidebar. I settled on the Twitter Tools Plugin by Alex King. Below is the code I use for that. In the event that Twitter goes under (which people in the industry have speculated might happen) I also have a dormant backup plan to use the Sideblog plugin for wordpress. You can see that option commented out below. I like this option but they stay as posts which can cause future feed and spidering issues. What you see below is from my sidebar directly if you want to grab the idea and make it your own:

I think the future of blogging and web 2.0 is the connections one makes through social media. After that, interaction with the blog owner will be a huge perk for people seeking knowledge and connections in the blogosphere.

A quick post-note: When I write “asides” I recognize that a 20-something created the term. That should be a charge for Matt Mullenwegg knowing he made that a blogging word. Of course, it isn’t quite as cool as how William Shakespeare first coined the term “lonely,” but it ranks up there pretty close ;) Good job Matt.