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Blogging Life Question 4: Blog Names

December 11, 2005 by Liz

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week, I offer this Blogging Hypothetical Question.

Here you go. . . .

A friend is rethinking his brand-new blog, now that he knows a little bit about them.
He comes to you with two questions:

1. Is it a good thing or a bad thing to have “blog” in my name–such as Blogopedia? You’ve been around longer. Does that make it easier, harder, or just the same for the reader?

2. Suppose I choose a domain name now and want change my blog name later. I know people do it. I’ve seen it often enough. Does it cause any problems that you know about?
Is it okay if my domain name www.joescarideas.com doesn’t match with the new blog name Joe’s Rocket Lounge?

As a blog reader, not an SEO person, do these things make any difference to you?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Thanks to Week 7 SOBs

December 9, 2005 by Liz

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Getting Your Blog Ready for Readers

December 8, 2005 by Liz

In the spirit of a community blog, articles from readers are a regular feature here. Know that I read them all to ensure the content belongs in the context of Successful Blog. Know that not every submission makes it here and that some get revised before they pass muster. Still even then, not every one of them will be right for every one of you.

To be respectful of your time–who needs me going on and on?–I ‘ve made a snapshot form to help you determine easily whether the content suits your personal needs. When you keep an article, it can serve also as a summary. If you have suggestions for changes to the form, just make a comment after an article whenever you think of them. Now on to the article. . . .

Guest Writer: Katy Whitton

Katy Whitton of Katy Whitton.com sent us this article on how to Market Your Blog and Keep Your Readers from her blog, Flipping Heck!

Target Audience: Beginning Bloggers
Article Type: Overview
Content: Katy mentions the main points of bringing your blog into the world of blogging, including choosing an appropriate name, content considerations, Permalinks, pinging catalogues (directories), posting frequency, advertising, and stats. She also provides links to additional information.

Notes: This is an overview that will get a new blogger thinking on what there is to do and hopefully bring him or her back to Successful Blog to find answers to any questions the article might prompt. Katy’s writing makes her article an easy read, an investment of a few minutes. Her writing voice lets the reader know that he or she can do this.

Thanks, Katy, for contributing to the Successful Blog community.

ME “Liz” Strauss

Collaboration Link 1: Image and Text

December 7, 2005 by Liz

Have you ever thought about collaboration as a creative way to make new links? It’s a great way to build community relationships as well as relevancy. How the collaboration works depends on the people involved and their blogs. I thought a few posts on collaboration links might be fun.

Collaboration Link 1: Image and Text
One person provides the text, the other the image.

I surfed a photo blog and this fabulous photo caught my attention. It had a caption that said

“You’re a photographer?” the child asked.
“No, I take pictures.”

I left a comment describing exactly what I liked about the photograph and how the caption inspired me. Then I emailed the photographer to say I would like to write a story about the photograph. Would he be interested? Would he share the photograph?

He said he’d like to see what I did with it and kindly agreed. What resulted was this collaborative link, “You’re a Photographer?”

A few weeks later a friend came to me. We had discussed working together, but we hadn’t yet hit on an idea–what should come first image or text? Then one day, he asked if he might use a story I posted to inspire a piece of art. Did I mind? I could hardly wait. What resulted was this collaborative link, “Dance with Me.”

These collaborations strengthened the blogging community. The links made the content on both blogs more interesting, more connected, more relevant. Personally, I enjoyed the chance to change things up a bit. It was cool to be blogging with a new friend and to feel like I was blogging on two blogs at once.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Collaboration Link 2: Topical
Collaboration Link 3: An Event
Collaboration Link 4: Movable Posts
Collaboration Link 5: An Interview
Collaboration Link 5: Begs the Question
Collaboration Link 6: Media Events

Great Find: Have You Been Stumbled Upon?

December 2, 2005 by Liz

This being Friday, I hadn’t planned on writing another post. I had a few lined up for the day and that MIT book I’m working on is staring at me.

But I was stumbled upon again—Successful Blog was stumbled upon last week and now this. I couldn’t help myself. My famous curiosity kicked in, and I had to check it out. Once I did, I figured you might want to play with Stumble Upon over the weekend. So here I am writing this post . . .

Stumble Upon is a more user-friendly, more organized, more social–yeah, that’s what I mean–a more social, social bookmarking tool. For the web pro, del.cio.us has an interface that offers the credibility and appeal of an indexing page. For the rest of us, Stumble Upon has that “Frosted Mini-Wheat” appeal–it’s visually pleasing and fun enough for the kid in me, but sophisticated and organized to satisfy the adult as well. For the social butterfly or the college kid this one wins hands down for it’s personal interaction features.

The time it takes to get up and running on Stumble Upon is short and sweet, and a quick check at Technorati shows that it already has 1500 users linked to it. I think this is the next sleeper hit. Well, just look at the difference. The developers have met most of the problems people have with using its competition.

You can edit the backgrounds, pick the categories, and do random searches to “stumble upon” sites under tagged themes. It’s addictive and fun. You can also meet people and share what you’ve found–if you so choose. More than that, it’s much nicer to look at and easier to find things.

If it’s not what you’re looking for, it might be the perfect thing for that friend or relative who finds del.cio.us overwhelming or visually intimidating.

Here’s what some of the big magazines said about Stumble Upon.

Give it a try. You might like it. I did, but then I stumble a lot even without it.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Thanks to Week 6 SOBs

December 2, 2005 by Liz

muddy teal strip A

Week 6 Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves Successful Blog SOBs.

muddy teal strip A

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this badge’s validity, send him or her directly to me. This award comes with a full “Liz said so” guarantee. It is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame. Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss