Digital Wilderness

I feel the urge to write, but I’m having trouble thinking of topics. So…

…let’s have an open mic! Ask questions or present ideas of subjects on which you would like me to write in the comments and I’ll write up a post on the topic. Anything and everything goes – work, school, hobbies, Christianity, church, the economy, personal finance, books, tech, relationships, music and anything in between and further on. Challenge me, I need it and welcome it. I’m anxious to see what you, my readers, are thinking about and curious about these days.

Sold!

…or videoblogs or vlogs. Whatever you want to call them, there are some really good ones out there. Here are two of my faves:

Geek Brief
Rocketboom

Check out more video podcasts at podcastalley.com or any number of other sites. Post your faves in the comments.

Are you a blogger and have trouble posting consistently? Not sure what to write about? Do you feel your quality has dropped or that you’ve lost readers?

To-Done.com has some tips on how to be a more productive blogger:

• Be A More Productive Blogger – Part 1
• Be A More Productive Blogger – Part 2

There are a ton of good tips mentioned in these articles, but here are some of the key ones, in my opinion of course, and my thoughts on them.

• Set aside time for writing and stick to it – Easier said than done, of course, but it’s so true. Look at the graph at the bottom of the page and you’ll see my posting times are generally clustered – one group when I get home from work and another before I go to bed. Find a time when you consistently will have time to write, and not be rushed, and try to stick with it.
• Keep an “Idea Journal” – If you’re anything like me, you get several ideas for blog posts as you go about your day. Jot these down somewhere so you don’t forget. I have many drafts saved as well, some that consist simply of a title or a link. This is helpful for those times when you just can’t think of anything to say – you’ll already have an idea waiting for you to write about.
• Take advantage of creative highs – If you’re in the zone, make the most of it!
• Take some time off – Though consistency is important, by no means force the issue and burn yourself out. If that negative feeling starts creeping in, take some time off and refresh and re-focus yourself.
• Read – Definite must! Not only will it give you ideas on what to write, but you’ll gain a larger vocabulary and improve your writing style as well.
• Break longer posts up into several smaller posts – If you find that you’ve written a novel for a post, see if you can break it up. You might find that you have a week’s worth of posts that you put together as one.
• Respond to feedback on your blog – I know that I’ve gotten ideas for new posts based on the comments of my readers from a previous post.

Lately, I’ve had several people ask me about starting a blog – how easy is it to get started, do they have be a computer nerd to have one, could *they* actually be a blogger, etc.

Well, let me say this – anyone can be a blogger, no matter your level of technical expertise (or lack thereof). The only condition for blogging is that you have your own unique voice and are willing to share it with the world, usually in written form. You don’t even need to be a great writer to have a blog – you simply need to be willing to share your interests, your likes and dislikes, your opinions and anything that comes to mind with the world around you. Your blog is as unique as you are, and should be a reflection of you. As long as you are true to yourself and your readers, and aren’t striving to be someone you’re not, you will be a great blogger.

So, you want a blog? How can I get started, you ask? Let me point you to this article at Working Smart – How to Start a Blog

Michael Hyatt, the author, outlines several steps to help get you started.

1. Determine a theme.
2. Select a service
3. Set up your blog
4. Write your first post
5. Consider using an offline blogging client
6. Add the bells and whistles
7. Publicize your blog
8. Write regularly

Read the full article for more details and specifics on these steps and you’ll be up and running in no time.

Personally, I would reduce/condense the steps to these 5:

1. Select a service and set up your blog
2. Determine a direction
3. Write your first post
4. Publicize your blog
5. Write regularly

Bells and whistles, as well as the other things I left out, will come in time, but aren’t necessary to get started or have a successful blog. Also, publicizing your blog should come naturally – you’ll want to share it with friends and family. Additionally, leaving comments on other blogs will bring traffic to yours, and trust me, the more you blog, they more you’ll read other blogs.

By far, the hardest part of blogging for most is keeping their voice. Many times, you will lose your “voice” and find that you have nothing to say. While writing regularly is important, don’t let it become a chore. You don’t want to end up hating your blog or feel like it’s another thing on your to-do list that needs to be done, that needs to be crossed off the list. The best writing comes naturally and isn’t forced. If you find yourself with nothing to say, though, try to find ways to motivate yourself to write. The easiest way to overcome writer’s block is to write through it. Find little things in your life or interesting articles on the web that are easy to post, things such as “I had a great day,” “I saw this great movie tonight” or “You’ve got to read this story.” If you don’t feel like expanding on the thought, don’t. The important thing is that you wrote something and posted it on your blog. Eventually, though, you’ll find that you can’t leave these thoughts as just one or two lines and you’ll want to expand on them. Before you know it, you’ll be posting regularly again.

Another aspect of losing your voice occurs when you lose your identity and start trying to write like other bloggers. This is a recipe for disaster. The visitors to your blog read it because they like who you are and what you have to say, not because you sound like the blogger next door. If you try to emulate one of the more popular bloggers, whether it’s to increase traffic/readership or to be “cool,” you’ll end up losing your core audience while temporarily gaining the attention of a few fickle readers. As time goes on, you won’t be able to keep up your “fake voice” because it’s not yours, it’s not natural. You’ll grow disheartened as you start losing readers, end up trying even harder to get them back, and eventually lose any motivation to write at all. Through your life as a blogger, your voice will change, but always make sure that it’s your voice and that you remain true to yourself and your loyal readers.

If you don’t already have a blog, I encourage you to take the leap and start one. It’s a great way to communicate with the world around you and you never know when your voice will be caught up by the wind in the blogosphere and lead you to somewhere you never expected.

I’m working on cleaning out my queue of bookmarks/clips/drafts of things that I thought were interesting and wanted to blog, but hadn’t yet got around to. Some of them are pretty old, but still relevant and informative, so I’ll try to post them over the next couple of days.

First up are some articles on writing better blogs posts, something that I know I need to work on and thought might inspire others as well.

This first set of tips comes from whatsnextblog.com.

Tips for Writing Better Blog Posts

• Link like crazy.
• Include complete thoughts in headlines
• Aim at keeping your posts at about 250 words.
• Don’t take yourself too seriously
• Never lose your sense of humor.
• Write like it counts.
• White space is your friend.
• Use bold text and italics for emphasis on words and phrases
• Make sure your posts are easy to scan.
• Don’t be afraid to voice opinions.

These are just a few of the tips provided. Read the full article for more tips and elaboration on the points listed above.

The second set of tips comes from blogospherenews.com.

Stowe Boyd and Halley Suitt: The Art and Science of Blog Writing

• Stories…good posts are good stories. Write a good story
• Truth…you need to be truthful.
• Passion…if you don’t write with passion nobody will care. Take a stand.
• Things of this world…be real, pictures, no abstract language
• Brevity…Twelve posts over twelve paragraphs
• Freshness…the amount and frequency. More stuff each day.
• Voice…Have a voice. Halley “People joke that I sound like my blog” Right on! Be real.
• Authenticity & Authority…keep writing what you know and learn more
• Draw a line…have your line. Have your limits and know when something is important and stand firm.
• Scribble, scribble, scribble…write and write and write a lot.
• On editing posts…unless you’re fixing something like a bad image or the like, don’t edit.

Again, read the full article for more details and discussion.

Happy blogging!!!

Min Jung Kim details the Lifecycle of Bloggers. Funny, but true!

I think I’m at step #4. That means retirement looms? Nah

…I have a bunch of stuff going on in this head of mine and need to get some of it out and written down.
…I want to use my God-given technological skills in a public and productive manner.
…I need to be more open and public about my faith and share what God has done and is doing in my life.
…I like to write and need to further develop those skills in a public setting.
…I’m much better at opening up and sharing things about myself in the written word, as opposed to the spoken word.
…there are tons of cool articles, stories, gadgets, etc that I find on the World Wide Web and want to share with others.
…I like having discussions/debates and getting the opinions of others on current events, matters of faith, and other issues involving the world around me.
…it helps me keep in touch with current friends, get reacquainted with old friends, and make new friends.
…it provides a means for me to share the music, books, etc that I enjoy and want to others to know about.
…it gives me an avenue to design, implement, improve, and get feedback on my website layouts, color schemes, etc.
…it makes this world seem a little smaller and more personal.
…I enjoy it!

What are your motivations for blogging? Ashlee, Jeff, Glenn, theMike and Laughing Cow, you’re it! Take a stab at answering this statement as honestly and insightfully as you can, then tag other bloggers for their response.

Hot new board game that you’ll hopefully see on shelves soon: blogpoly

Personally, I would have called it Blogopoly instead, but that’s just me…

Finally, the next installment of the “What Is…” Series. If you haven’t already, read the previous article – The “What is…” Series: RSS – as I will allude to it in this write-up. I didn’t get much feedback on the last article, and I’m figuring it was too long and not many people read it, so I’ll try to keep this one much shorter.

Q: What are Aggregators/News Readers/Feed Readers?

A: Technical answer:

A news aggregator is a piece of software or a remotely hosted service that periodically reads a set of news sources, in one of several XML-based formats (primarily RSS), finds the new bits, and displays them in reverse-chronological order on a single page.

There are primarily three kinds:

• Desktop news aggregators
• Online news aggregators
• Server side aggregators

– from Wikipedia

What does that mean?

In the explanation of RSS, you’ll remember that I said that you could basically create your own custom newspaper using RSS. An aggregator is the way to do that, the actual “paper” part of this newspaper. An aggregator will take all your RSS feeds (which are essentially unreadable by themselves) and put them into a readable format in a central location. The aggregator will check all your feeds periodically for new content – automatically. Rather than going to 50 different sites and checking them for new content, an aggregator will do this for you.

So, to create my newspaper, I take the RSS feeds from various sites and plug them into an aggregator?

Yes, you’ll subscribe to the RSS feed for a particular site, and all the headlines and either part or all of the content will be displayed within the aggregator. Each aggregator has a different mechanism for adding an RSS feed, but most are as simple as entering the address of the website. They can figure out the RSS feed automatically. However, some will require that you enter the address of the RSS feed.

What are some examples of aggregators?

As mentioned earlier, there are three classes of aggregators – desktop, online and server side.

I’ll be focusing on desktop and online aggregators, since server side aggregators require your own server and software, which most people don’t have and if you do, you wouldn’t need this article to tell you what an aggregator is.

Desktop (or standalone) aggregators are programs that are installed on your computer. Some examples of desktop aggregators, both free and commercial, are FeedDemon, NewsGator, RSSBandit and SharpReader. Aggregators of this type retrieve content from the internet and store it locally, on your computer, for reading at your convenience.

Online aggregators are web-based, basically websites. Examples are Bloglines, MyYahoo, MyMSN and NewsIsFree. Online aggregators keep the content on the websites servers, so you’ll have to login to read the new content.

Which one should I use?

It’s totally up to you, depending on your preferences. I use Bloglines and prefer the web-based, online aggregators. By using a web-based aggregator, I have all my feeds available no matter what computer I’m at. I can login and check my feeds from school, work, or home and I won’t miss any new posts.

Desktop aggregators are good because they will download all the content from the internet for you, and then you can read them whenever you want, without having to stay connected. For example, say that you’re taking a flight some where. Use your desktop aggregator to download all the new posts from your feeds while you’re waiting in the airport, and then read then while you’re in flight. You can’t do that with an online aggregator.

Ultimately, I think it comes down to what you’re most comfortable with and which aggregator has an interface that you like and can use the most easily. If you’re anything like me and have hundreds of blogs that you like to keep up with, you better have an aggregator that’s easy on the eyes and that makes it easy to scan through the tons of new posts that you’ll be reading. Bloglines is my newsreader of choice for this reason and because of the simple interface, ease at which I can add new blogs, the plugins for Firefox that are available for it, etc. Different strokes for different folks, though… You’ll find many free aggregators out there (many of the ones I listed are free) and there’s nothing wrong with taking each for a test drive.

For an example of an aggregator, check out my bloglines account.

Next up: Trackback

Was this post helpful to you? Too long or short? Too technical? Leave me a comment with your thoughts or additional questions. Your feedback will help me with future articles like this.

To those of you who may be reading this that know more about aggregators and feeds than I do, please feel free to correct anything that I may have gotten wrong. Thanks!

Sources used for this article include the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_aggregator