Kelly Slater, ASP 10X World Champion surfer is being chaired up the beach at Snapper Rocks, Queensland, Australia, just after winning Quiksilver Pro, March 2011.
What’s the bond between a champion and his fans?
Whether you’re a blogger or an entrepreneur, you’re probably using the net to get in touch with lots of people out there. You also know what to do, how to do that. But you feel there is always something missing to get to that so called “next step” everyone of us is longing for.
As bloggers, we can absolutely tell that wonderful feeling… that feeling of having our digital life going great, that side of our digital existence handled for good; I will be serious about that. The best advice I have been able to find on the net goes like this:
“write the greatest, deepest content you can produce and let the machines do the rest, without worrying about visitors, comments and similar stuff”.
That is to say: all the effort you really have to make is about content. Creating, is the only thing we, as bloggers, editors and writers, are allowed to worry about.
What is not so clear for the vast majority of bloggers is that the interface between the user and the internet can become a great obstacle because of the vast choice of applications, addons, plugins and widgets that are available for us to use on our pages. These features are totally irrelevant on the quality of the material we can find on a blog page.
By simplifying the blog interface, I guess I have made one of the most important and wise decisions ever in my (digital) life. What did I do, exactly to simplify my blog interface?
1. I removed the comments section under every post
2. I removed plugins and reduced my blog interface to the essential
No need for comments and features that bloat my page. I need content that is valuable for what it is. Looks doesn’t really matter to me, and all I want to look at is the content I am interested in. That is why I also removed comments.
The Results:
I uniquely use 2 communication channels that are completely free: my email account and my Twitter. This way, I don’t create clutter in my life and all I do in the virtual world remains there.
Plus, my blog remains clean and usable; no visual clutter is present on my screen and whenever I feel like I can read what I write with no need to close and click ads, useless windows and pop-up stuff.
Moreover, in absence of plugins and different elements I can have a blog which is usable and viewable by almost every kind of device out there, and doesn’t make the user wait for the content to appear and load.
No time to waste, no clutter. Just you and the deep content you’re going to enrich your existence with.
What might you gain or lose by sleeing doen your down your (digital life) to these two communication channels?
David Berti is the creator of the Ubuntulook project. His webisite is(unbuntulook You’ll find him on twitter as @ubuntulook
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Thanks, David! Always love a distinctively new point of view!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!
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By Terez Howard
When I visited dictionary.com to see what it had to say about a stereotype, I read, “The cowboy and Indian are American stereotypes.” They are “a simplified and standardized conception or image invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group.”
In classic Western shows, cowboys are white men. But cowboys were also of African American, Mexican and Native American decent. And we all know that the Indians that go with cowboys are not from India.
Why the stereotypes?
I don’t really know. I believe that someone or group of people somewhere decide that this is going to be the norm. Cowboys will be white, and Indians will be Native Americans. They will never get along, and it will be a fun game for kids to play. Then, that norm transforms into a stereotype. Before long, the actual truth of a matter is lost. A stereotype becomes truth.
This is why when most people speak of a stereotype, it engenders thoughts of something bad.
I have been thinking about this for a while.I suppose the stereotypical blogger knows everything there is to know in her niche, at least everything thinks she does. She posts frequently, well, regularly.She is witty, conversational and informative, all wrapped up in a delicious but very real blog.Readers hang on her every word. She posts pictures and video, too, because she wants her blog to have it all.She knows everyone, and everyone knows her.
The stereotypical blogger doesn’t sound bad at all. In fact, it sounds like the type of person that every serious blogger wants to become. But, why? Because those characteristics equate success? Is it because that is what all of the top, authority bloggers are doing? Just because they’re doing it, you have to do it too. They’re successful, and there’s no other way for you to be a successful blogger. Is that so?
Yep. I’m not that kind of blogger. I’m not saying that I don’t want to be. I wish that I could post every single day and that I understood the ins and outs of html. I don’t, and I can’t. I am not ashamed.
I have made another observation about the stereotypical blogger. She has very limited time for the rest of her life. She’s always answering e-mails. She’s constantly tweeting her stuff and everyone else’s. She always seems to be on every blog related to her niche, commenting and guest blogging. She is everywhere, and everyone loves it.
If you’re not going to be the stereotypical blogger, then you know by now that you are letting some things go. Your blog might not have everything, every tool and form of media, right away. I believe that if you want to have a life outside of your blog and you’re patient, you can eventually have everything on your blog.
Also, your name will not get to be all over the Internet immediately when you aren’t the stereotypical blogger. You will not have the time. Slowly, you can make connections that will boost your image. You may never be No. 1 in your niche. Is that OK?
It’s OK with me. No. 1 has too much responsibility. I’m content doing what I can do, having fun writing, collecting my money and then having a life.
I’m not ashamed to say that I don’t have the time to be the stereotypical blogger. I will never be that girl. I do what I do. I enjoy what I do. And blogging is only a small part of “what I do.”
What do you think? Are you or do you want to be the stereotypical blogger?
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Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients authority status and net visibility. She has written informative pieces for newspapers, online magazines and blogs, both big and small. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas. You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger.
Thanks, Terez!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!
These little buggies, usually seen zipping around our local Gold Coast surf beaches with a couple of Queensland finest in them, are presumably much more effective in the perp catching game than foot chases across the sand in size 9s would be.
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By Jael Strong
Itâs hip! Itâs socially responsible! Itâs green! Everybody, every company, seems to be going green, making choices and taking stands so as to limit their negative impact on the environment. I heard a piece on National Public Radio about businesses becoming more environmentally aware and I started to think: Is it possible for bloggers to go green?
I immediately felt silly for asking the question. After all, it seems to me that blogging by nature is a green activity. So many bloggers write from home. We canât really cut back on our commute. We do our work on the computer, so paper waste isnât an issue. Aside from the choices that all of us can make, choosing locally grown foods, avoiding gas guzzlers, recycling, we donât seem to be left with environmental options specific to blogging.
For those who really want to decrease their environmental impact, that answer might not be sufficient. Isnât there something that bloggers can do to go green? I did actually come up with three ways: decrease paper use, blog at night and promote environmentally friendly activities on their blog.
We already established that bloggers donât use a ton of paper, especially in comparison with other fields, but there are places that could take a cut back. For example, if you are a note taker, which I am, you could choose an alternative to the old pen and paper. A voice recorder may be a way to keep track of burgeoning ideas or a PDA might be a good fit. Those tiny notebooks and sticky notes could add up over time if that is your currently preferred avenue for note taking.
Another way to cut back on paper use is to not insist on printing a hard copy of all of your writing. Now, I know that most of you do not print hard copies every time you post, but I also know for a fact that someone used to be very attached to having a paper version for all of her writing (me, of course). This was a bad idea, especially as my writing became more prolific. I also know that some are very paranoid that they will need hard copies of everything when all of the computers in the world decide to crash. I think if that day ever comes, our writing might not be foremost in our minds. So, cut back on hard copies equals less harm to the environment.
Now on to blogging at night. Well, we put less strain on the energy supply if we use electricity at night, so I thought we could start doing our writing at night. Besides, running electricity during non-peak hours is often better for our budgets. Okay, I know this is a stretch, but I was brainstorming! Plenty of us already do our writing at night anyhow, but itâs a thought.
And finally, can more writers promote going green on their blogs? If everybody did this all of the time, every blog would become a platform for ecological change. That sounds like a bad idea to me, but if the opportunity presents itself I suppose there is nothing wrong with plugging good citizenship.
It all feels like a stretch to me. The piece that I heard on the radio was inspiring; I really wanted to employ some great green practices, but the more I think about, it just doesnât seem like thereâs much a blogger can do. Do you have any thoughts on how a blogger can lessen their environmental impact?
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Jael Strong writes for TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clientsâ authority status and net visibility. She has written both fiction and non-fiction pieces for print and online publications. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas .
Thanks, Jael
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!
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Amazing how a bucket, a milk bottle and a piece of wood provided a visual treat. Imagination at work
Where do you see art in your life?