Feel like you’re struggling to move upward? Can’t seem to make progress no matter how hard you work? Afraid that if you don’t keep pushing your limits you’ll fall?

Blogging can make you feel that way sometimes.  Things are moving along, traffic is growing and things are looking good. Then it happens. Traffic stalls, or worse it drops, and you find yourself working harder just to stay in the same place.

I started feeling this way not too long ago, so I started thinking about what I could do about it. Here are a few of my ideas.

Mix Things Up

Try something new to relieve the tedium. Don’t stress out trying to think of something new, that would defeat the purpose. There are tons of ideas out there for the taking. Just remember to do something fun. Here are a couple  to get you started.

Parody. Write a tongue in cheek post about something that bugs you. I did a post like that about money making blogs. Some of them have decent advice, but a lot of them look like this.

Fiction. If you do a lot of writing about news and events, try making something up. Just let your readers know that it’s not real. For instance, if you write about celebrity news, do a post about celebrity news stories ten years from now. Have fun with it. A blog post titled "Britney Spears’ Trailer Destroyed by Tornado" would be a lot of fun to write.

Think About How You Work

Take a little time to take a look at how you work on your blog. A lot of us focus on the readers and forget to think about ourselves. I’m not saying you should ignore the people reading your blog. I’m just saying that sometimes it’s easy to get a little too focused on something. Ask yourself a few questions.

What do you enjoy about blogging?

What’s the hardest part for you?

What do you spend the most time doing?

What do you avoid doing?

Taking the time to answer some questions like this could help you identify your strengths and weaknesses as a  blogger. Knowing is half the battle.

Look Back to Move Forward

Take a look back at what you’ve done on your blog. You might be surprised by how far you’ve come. It’s easy to miss the big picture when you’re focused on the details. Writing a post about your blog can help you get a better understanding of it.

Not too long ago AnimeFansOnline.com turned 8 months old. I wrote a post that went through, month by month, and highlighted posts that I enjoyed. I was amazed by how much I’d learned about blogging in 8 months. I also spotted a couple of problems that I need to work on. I got 3 great things from that 1 post.

A post to help new readers find some of the older articles.

A good idea about what needs improving.

Encouragement to continue blogging.

Have Fun

If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, you’ll burn out long before you reach the summit.

What about you? Have anything that helps you keep going? Leave a comment and let us know. We could all use the help.

The book giveaway over at Fanatic Space has been announced. All the rules are laid out on the blog post and in the forum threads.

Forum?

Yep. I decided that using the forum would be the best way to avoid spoilers for the people that haven’t read the Erec Rex books yet. I’d really hate to ruin the story for someone that is looking forward to reading it. It’s even worse when they’re hoping to win a copy of the book. So I set up separate threads in the forum.

Links

Here are the relevant links if you want to enter.

Blog Post:

Win An Autographed Copy Of The Erec Rex Books

Forum Threads:

Win a copy of Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye

Win a copy of Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness

Good luck to everyone entering.

Technorati Tags: Announcements, Blogging, Books, Fantasy, Fun Stuff, Free Stuff, Win, Prizes, Giveaway, Contest, Erec Rex, The Dragon’s Eye, The Monsters of Otherness, Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye, Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness, Autographed, Author, Kaza Kingsley

I’ve got an interview with author Kaza Kingsley posted over at FanaticSpace. She’ll be checking in during her blog tour, so you can ask her your questions.  Stop by and check it out.

She’s very cool. I hope to be able to work with her in the future. There’s been talk of a possible guest post too. I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Free Books

I posted a review of the first book, Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye. I’m also going to post a review of the second book, Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness. I’ll be giving away copies of both Erec Rex books. So check out the review to see if you want to read the books. Then you can come back and enter to win a free copy in the giveaway.

These aren’t e-books. These are real physical hardbacks that you can put on your bookshelf or read with your kids. Another nice plus is that they’re both autographed.

I told you she was cool.

Technorati Tags: Announcements, Blogging, Books, Reviews, Fantasy, Young Adult, Free Books, Autographed, Kaza Kingsley, Erec Rex, The Dragon’s Eye, The Monsters of Otherness

It certainly looks like it. Here’s a quote from the launch post at ProBlogger.net

2. There will be a charge for the blog which is the subject of the consultation (we’ll start this at $250 USD - paid up front). The reasons for this are numerous:

Now take a look at the community review for Hypebot.com. He linked to the site to be reviewed of course. Only one little thing about that bugs me. He didn’t include a "nofollow" on that link.

Is Darren Selling Page Rank?

For $250 you might be able to get a followed link to your blog on ProBlogger.  It’s a good deal for you and for him, since he doesn’t have to do the reviewing. He just adds a description and a link in a post and lets the commentators do the work. Nice.

What Will Google Do?

I don’t mind if he does sponsored posts. I don’t have a problem with sponsored posts. What I do have a problem with is the double standard from Google. Sure it might be a bit soon to tell, and he might get penalized for this, but I doubt it. Google would have more problems explaining why Darren Rowse got penalized than it would explaining why blogs that write for it’s competitors get their PR set to 0. Not that they will explain it.

I’d sure like to see ‘em try though.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Ramblings, ProBlogger, Google, Community Review, Sponsored Posts, Page Rank, Penalty, Double Standard, NoFollow

The Sum Of All Human Knowledge

It’s a catchy slogan, but it’s about as true as "Don’t Be Evil" is over at Google. In other words, it’s a load of bull. If they were being honest the slogan would be something like "The Sum Of All Human Knowledge That The Wikipedia Editors Don’t Object To And That Has Already Appeared In Numerous Real Information Sources". That’s kind of a mouthful though, and it doesn’t have the ring of idealistic nobility.

Yeah, I’m not a Wiki-fan. It combines online reference sources with communism. Much like communism in real life, it doesn’t work on Wikipedia either. I would never use Wikipedia if I needed information that was important. You just can’t trust it.

If I wouldn’t use it, why would I give them money?

Technorati Tags: Ramblings, Wikipedia, Video, Jimmy Wales, Creepy, Begging, Money

Geometric Blogging

Ah, Geometry. Definable, practical and predictable. Well, except for Pi but he’s a troublemaker. Geometry and blogging come together quite often. In themes and layouts. In charts and graphs. Even in posting schedules. After all the Earth is round, and that gives us our rotation of night and day. Geometry even gives us a way to think of the blogoshpere Take a look.

The core of the blogosphere would be the A-List. The blogs from which everything radiates. They can post 5 sentences and get tons of links. Linking to those 5 sentences provides posts for other bloggers which get linked to, providing posts for more bloggers. If Problogger Darren Rowse goes on vacation or John Chow drops some form of advertising, then the ripples will spread across the Internet.

That blogosphere might make sense, if you’re a fan of the geometric blogging theory. Personally I think the geometry of blogging looks more like this.

A handful of A-list blogs at the top and almost everyone else trying to climb up.

Celestial Blogging

Atmosphere, Ionosphere and Blogosphere? If you look at it, it’s not a bad comparison. Much like the different layers surrounding a planet, the blogosphere can be harmed by pollution. Mostly the pollution comes in the form of MFAs, splogs and scrapers. The pollution in the blogosphere also has it’s own form of acid rain, spam. For those of us on the outer edges of the blogosphere it’s cold, dark and lonely.

How To Win Readers And Influence Bloggers.

Spheres of influence is probably the most accurate breakdown of the word blogosphere. Readers and influence go hand in hand. After all, the A-list influence other bloggers more than the rest of us. That’s what makes them A-list bloggers. They’ll get more links to their posts, even the normal everyday posts. Watch out if one of these heavy hitters releases some linkbait, because it’s going to be huge. All those links will bring them more readers and increase their influence.

For the A-List blogging is an upward spiral not a sphere.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Ramblings, Blogosphere, A-List, Geometric Blogging, Celestial Blogging, Blogging Pyramid, Blogomid

Choose Your Comments Wisely

How I found out that Google was getting under my skin is pretty embarrassing. I was reading a post on Courtney Tuttle’s blog and decided to comment. It was only after I commented and Court replied that I realized that I wasn’t responding to Court’s post, RealRank™ Doesn’t Solve Anything For Bloggers. I was responding to Google. I’m sorry about that. Court has a great blog, and this post was no exception.

I Never Thought It Would Happen To Me

I never thought I’d leave an angry off topic comment like that. I did though. One minute I was commenting on RealRank™ and the next I was typing out a diatribe on the Evil Empire. Court’s reply was like cold water. Seriously, I got chills. I looked at the comment I left. It was not the reply I intended to write.

Learn from my screw up. If you leave a comment on a post about Google, or anything else that sets you off, re-read the post after writing your comment. Ask yourself a couple of questions before you click that submit button.

• Does this comment fit this post?

• Am I responding to this post or something else?

• Am I upset?

• Do I want to embarrass myself?

If you’re at all unsure, leave the page and take some time to cool off. I wish I had.

If you read this Court, I apologize.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Ramblings, Comments, Google, Google Rank Rage

"You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it’s me, I’m a little fudged up maybe, but I’m funny how, I mean funny like I’m a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I’m here to fudgin’ amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?" — Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci), Goodfellas

I have to say, it’s a pretty darn encouraging review. She thinks I have style and humor. I like her, she’s a good judge of character.

Terms of Engagement

It seems my writing is ok, but I need to engage all of you a bit more. Good advice. I’ll try to do that more often. I’m kinda stumped on how to go about that. Does that mean I should be more open to comments? I love comments. Can’t get enough of ‘em. (No really, I don’t have enough. Please leave a comment!) Should I ask more questions? How would you do it? (Ha! It’s working already. )

About Time

I don’t have enough content on my about page either. I’m not really sure what to put on my about page. I have trouble with that. I’m just not sure how to describe myself. It’s not like I have a list of accomplishments to add to the page, I’m no Internet Entrepreneur. I’m just some guy writing a blog. Anyone got some advice for me on that?

Oh, and if you want to write up a review yourself, feel free. I could use some good blogging advice.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Reviews, JasonWigley.com, Computer Chit Chat, ComputerChitChat.com

Google has been making people crazy. I’m no John Chow, but I refuse to let it get to me. I’ll tell you why. I don’t care what Google does. Read this, and maybe you’ll start to see things my way.

Google has done some amazing things. The most amazing thing they’ve accomplished is to convince so many people that they’re indispensable. You can succeed without Google. You don’t need them, they need you.

What about traffic?

Google may be the biggest search engine, but they’re only one traffic source.  If your site is good enough and you get it in front of the right people, Google could collapse tomorrow and you wouldn’t even notice the drop in your numbers.

There are three levels of traffic. It all depends where your visitors come from.

1. Level 1 Direct Traffic

   Direct traffic is the best. That means the visitor came directly to your site. No search, no link clicking and  Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200. There are a couple of different reasons your visitor came directly to you, and all of ‘em are good. This kind of traffic means you’ve done your job.

   • They’re a regular visitor.
   • They know what they’re looking for, and you have it.
   • They heard about  you and typed in your URL. (That’s brand recognition taking root.)
2. Level 2 Search Engine and Directory Traffic

   Search engines and directories are just below direct traffic. This means that your visitor is looking for something and the search results make them think you have it. You might, you might not. That’s a crap shoot. This is where S.E.O. comes into play. The higher you can get in the search engines, the better.

3. Level 3 Referral Traffic

   This is everything else. Web sites, ads and e-mail. Anything on the web that links to your site. The more links the better. The best way to get those links is by building something that people want to link to.

If that’s true, then why does 50% of my traffic come from Google?

Because Google has you convinced that you need them. Google’s "Webmaster Guidelines" is the best piece of misdirection they have. That’s because it’s intricate and contradictory. There are people making a living off of trying to figure it out. That’s what S.E.O. is now. Search Engine Optimization has become Google Optimization.  People are so busy trying to rank well in Google that the thought never occurs to them that they don’t need to.

I’m not saying you should skip S.E.O., not by a long shot. I’m saying that you need to optimize for search engines, plural. Never focus on one search engine alone, not even Google.

You can be successful without Google. They just don’t want you to know that.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Ramblings, Google, Page Rank, Google Page Rank, PR, PR Update, Google PR, PR 0, Googlesmacked, Googleslapped, Google Smack, Google Slap, SEO, S.E.O., Search Engine Optimization

This is a Test

I’m using this post as a test. I’m trying out several different things. I’m adding pictures and links of course. I’m also misspelling words to check the spellcheck functions built into Live Writer. So far the only word that spellcheck has missed is spellcheck. 

I’ll consider using it if…

1. It’s easy to use.
2. It doesn’t mess up the code.
3. It’s easy to use.
4. It doesn’t turn out to be buggy.
5. It’s easy to use.
6. The posts look the same on my blog.
7. It’s easy to use.

Did I mention that it had to be easy to use? Good. Like a lot of bloggers I’ve found a nice groove when I’m posting. I have everything set the way I want. If something is going to make me change it’s gonna have to be special. So far everything looks pretty good. Now I just need to publish it and see how well that goes.

Wish me luck.

Update:

I left out the links. Not by mistake, but because I wanted to check the editing of a published post. So I had to publish with something missing. This update was also added with Live Writer. Looks like it does a pretty good job.

My only problem with Live Writer is how the posts look in the WordPress code editor. There are no line breaks or spacing at all. All spacing is done with HTML, so the posts look compressed. Shouldn’t be too bad for short posts, but it could be a nightmare if you need to edit a long post using WordPress.

The Verdict

It’s easy to use. As long as you don’t need to use the WordPress code editor there shouldn’t be any problems. I’d recommend it for people with little or no experience with HTML or those just starting to blog.

• Ease of use:………………………………………9
• Post Results (reading):…………………………9
• Post Results (WP Editor):………………………4
• Final Score:……………………………………….7.3 out of 10