May 26 2012

Just Three Words

First,  be assured that my verbosity has not in any way whatsoever abated.   But yesterday I had So much fun cranking out a blog post based on three random words my friend Lindy suggested.    And I had something of an epiphany.   I’ve long been settling into writing one three paragraph post of 300 to 500 words.   And I’m realizing it would be rather cool to write this blog about anything, everything and nothing about trios of words suggested by readers.   So have at it.   Give me your three favorite words.   Or three random words.  Or unusual words.    Just give me three words and I will give you a blog post.

I need to make clear up front that I am not promising to crank out something for every single trio that comes over the transom.   But the better I like the words the more likely I will get around to writing your post.    If you leave a link to your blog, I will be sure to give you a link when I write your post.   I will also visit your blog and comment.     If you can choose three random words from a dictionary and leave them for me in less than a minute or two,   it could be a pretty easy way to get one more visitor to your blog.    Building relationships with other bloggers is the best way to create organic back links.    (If you are still so naive as to be purchasing back links or paying some guru to get them for you….let’s just say you are still at the snake oil buying newbie stage of the blogosphere.)

I find myself wondering what words my readers will throw at me.   I suspect Holly will come up with something.    And I look forward to writing about whichever words Laura throws out.    And what about you?    Will you please leave me three words in a comment below.     Be sure to include your blog link.     Come on.   Give me just three words.

May 25 2012

Drizzle Thermos Drafty

So I was chatting with my friend Anise on Facebook.    She said something to the effect that she should catch up on her blogging,  but was enjoying being lazy.   I replied and mentioned my blog every day in 2012 challenge and mentioned that I am to the point I could do a blog post out of pretty much any three random words.    My friend Lindy chimed in suggesting “drizzle,  thermos,  drafty”.    This post is my reply.

Living in the Pacific Northwest,  I am certainly familiar with incessant,  unending drizzle.    This area is famous for the “Seattle rain”,  though the fact is we actually receive considerably less precipitation each year than, for instance, Boston or Atlanta or most other major American cities.   From around November to April we tend to have a lot of gray, drizzly weather.   Folks from those rainier Eastern cities have been known to come out here,  spend one winter in constant cool, gray and damp weather and flee.    For the other four or five months it is usually spectacular– sunny, gorgeous and rarely too hot.    The rumors of endless rain in Seattle are said to have been started by some Northwest natives who were trying to discourage immigration from California.

A thermos can be a very handy thing.    I suppose the airpot we keep our brewed coffee in is a type of thermos,  though since it sits permanently on our kitchen counter I never think of it as a thermos.   To me a thermos is a portable container for taking along hot or cold liquids that need to be maintained at temperature.    I am remembering early elementary school,  and every child had a lunch box,  a clunky metal rectangular box,  and each box had a matching thermos  (all done up with artwork from television series or movies).    What is funny to me is that I remember the lunch boxes and the thermoses.   But I can’t for the life of me ever remember any beverage I toted in my thermos.

As I have sat here composing this blog post,   several zephyrs of lovely late spring breeze have pushed open the blinds and sped through my living room.    The wonderful breezes of late spring and early summer never feel drafty,   a word I inevitably associate with winter and poorly insulated rooms.  Though in truth when I lived in Boston,   I never ever had a problem with drafts.    From late November to late March,  every apartment I lived in in Boston had heat from steam radiators that usually made it too darned hot.   I vividly remember throwing open my windows and watching the snow fall on the sidewalk,   breathing in the wonderful cold air and equalizing the temperature in my otherwise insufferably hot apartment.   All things considered,   I like the weather here in Tacoma much  better than that back in New England.

May 24 2012

Due To Lack Of Interest

Due to lack of interest,  today’s blog post has been canceled.  I remember long, long ago coming across a book titled Due To Lack Of Interest Tomorrow Has Been Canceled.   I don’t in fact remember what the book was about,   but today I felt like stealing the title.   Today I feel like one of a zillion or so people who is jumping up and down and screaming their lungs out trying to get attention.   And quite failing at it, frankly.

I know that it is ultimately both a totally unfair feeling and a sure sign that I have slipped over from manic to depressed.  I’ve come to realize that when I am happy and upbeat I project that onto all of the people around me.    And when I am down and depressed I also project all of that onto all the poor souls I encounter.     Which is how it is that I am writing this blog post,   pissing and moaning that no one wants to hear what I have to say even as you,  dear reader,  once again read my ravings.    I do apologize for being a bit of an ass today.

We are a bit early this month to the  ’we’re broke ’cause it’s (this time almost) the last week of the month’.     I did take two car loads of cans back to the recycling center,  which brought in a few bucks but they will not last as long as we have month left, unfortunately.     It appears we have about one more car load of cans to take in  (and then all of the long accumulation of cans will be cleared off the patio,  which I hope to get cleaned up for summer).    Here’s hoping that next month will be a little easier financially.   And finally,   just to end this post with a little good news–  I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday.   My latest A1C  was down to 7.3.   7.0  is normal.    The nurse and I think I’m doing pretty good.   The doctor was rather stern that we need to get it down that last 0.3  but frankly,  compared to the 24 I had when I first started seeing this doctor,  7.3 is Major improvement.     Here’s hoping it’s been a good week in your world.

May 23 2012

Best Advice For New Bloggers

The very best advice I can give to folks who want to create a money making blog is this.   First figure out how your site is going to make money.   Are you going to steer traffic to an affiliate program?   Are you going to sell advertising?   Are you going to sell memberships?     How are you going to make money from the web site you’re going to create.   Answer that question before you look at any other questions and you will be light years ahead of 99% of other bloggers out there.      After you’ve figured out how you’re going to make money,  only then choose a niche and make decisions about hosting and platform.  There are ways you can make money  (though probably not the huge earnings you envisioned if you’ve been reading about getting rich quick by blogging).    The make money online niche (MMO)  is not a bad one if you are trying to make money,  though you really only make money by peddling snake oil in that niche.

The second best advice I can give to folks who are blogging to make money from it is to always look for ways of getting targeted traffic,  which is to say people who more likely than not are in the market for what you are selling.     If your product is strongly geared to, say,  women 18–49,  traffic from men is probably not going to help you much.     (Substitute any demographic,  it’s still true.   Random traffic is of very little value if you are trying to convert them to sales.)   One of the most common mistakes those who are trying to make money with their blogs make is chasing after  random traffic rather than focusing ever more tightly on attracting only visitors who are in the market for the product being sold. Raw traffic is useless.   Carefully targeted traffic is golden.   Your traffic and your conversion rate  (the percentage of visitors who make a purchase) are what govern your income if you are blogging for money.  (If your only income is from blog advertising,  you will be lucky to earn your hosting fees unless you match really well for a huge high paying keyword like, for instance mesothelioma.    The competition for such a high paying keyword is huge and your site would have to be a hell of an information resource to match well for it.

Creating blogs to make money can be a fun hobby,  though it is actually a great deal more difficult to do than you might tend to believe.      But if you are willing to learn what to do and keep doing it,  you can with multiple blogs hope to earn something approaching a living.    But the first thing you need to remember is that it is NOT in any way whatsoever an “easy” way to do so.

May 22 2012

In The Wasted Half

You know,  I’m not going to just mention it to you if your stated goal states to me that you’re either very ignorant about social media or something of an asshole.    Today I heard someone state they were trying to create a pinterest board of “socially interesting people”.      I thought for the briefest of moments of pointing out that there is a huge difference between say “people interested in social networking”  and  ”people I personally find socially interesting”  and that the title chosen for the pinterest board does not make it very clear whom the guy is targeting.   I said nothing, however,  because the guy is not my client and if you are not paying me to show you the way,  I’m not much inclined to point out your obvious flaws free of charge,   lest I slip up and act like an asshole again.  (I fear my good friend is correct when he tells me that sometimes I do come across that way.)

My friends are people who are interesting to me,  either because of the quality of their conversation and/or because we share experiences or interests– such as in certain hobbies, professions,  lines of thought or endeavor, etc.     Then there are acquaintances whom I may share some interests with and who may some day become friends or may some day drop out of my acquaintanceship.    That’s just life.  ,A conversation with a couple of friends about Facebook advertising brought home to me not how targeted the ads on Facebook are  (duh,  I knew that) but how hit or miss that targeting is to an advertiser.   I do sometimes write tips and advice for bloggers and about using social networking to promote a blog.    But honestly,  I am so not in the market for any of the get rich quick schemes targeted at uniformed new bloggers who all paid to advertise to me on Facebook today.     I remember once being very taken by an ad for a cruise line,  advertising a luxury voyage to some exotic destination (which I doubt I’ll ever be able to afford to visit).    I clicked the ad several times and spent hours pouring over info for an exotic trip I was never really in the market for.

I’m reminded again of what Philadelphia department store magnate John Wannamaker famously said about advertising.   “…half of it is wasted.   The only trouble is we don’t know which half.”

May 20 2012

Are They Boring Or Just Not Admitting To Their Aliases?

I sometimes find myself thinking that we each and every one of us on this merrily spinning ball are conducted our very own circus with the people around us in our lives.     It’s as useful a notion as any for a frameword through which to view and talk about life.    It’s been a busy weekend for my pseudonym that lives and writes about things I never ever talk about on this blog or publicly under this name.   I feel a tiny bit guilty about neglecting this blog and all of my friends in all of my networks.   Though like a kid playing hooky it does feel kind of wonderful to slip into and live under my pseudonym for a few hours at a time and to repeat the trick again and again.      If I were just a teensy bit more pompous I’d no doubt have been a terrible actor who believed to his dying day that he was a great Shakespearean.    I feel blessed in having long ago realized that writing is what I do best.     I will never claim that I write as well as any of the great writers I am forever reading.    But I write as well as I can and leave it for my readers to judge how compelling my stories,  how well I hold your attention, how much I make you think.

So my apologies for neglecting you while my pseudonym has been having a good time and keeping me away from the computer  :)   One of the most difficult things to do well in writing is to change the subject and seamlessly blend three discrete topics in three discrete paragraphs into a single flowing blog post that grabs and engages your readers and shares a little bit of useful information,  a bit of good humor and perhaps causes some readers to think a new thought or two.      I’ve come to realize that the three hundered word three-fer is a rather distinct art form.      And I honestly feel guilty on a day like today,  where I will top out right around 350 words,   without having said much of anything at all other than I’ve been busy under another name.    I find it so strange when I hear all of these people talk about using only one name ever online.   And I have to think that some parts of their lives must be inescapably dull if they share every bit of it with all of their Facebook friends.

May 19 2012

And A Happy Weekend To YOU!

Some days it seems to me,  you just have to go big.     Most days I invest in lots of newbies on Empire Avenue.    Then sometimes I sell off any who haven’t invested back in me.   Lather, rinse and repeat, repeat, repeat and eventually you will have lots of eaves rolling into your account at dividends time every day.    But then I take a look at a random recommendation from someone I don’t usually get stock tips from and bought 800 shares in someone with great divs whose share price will no doubt double over the next few weeks.It just seemed to be my day to go out and play.  Early this morning I went to visit one friend.  Then this afternoon,  I went and visited someone else.   A third visit early evening and then a fantastic visit late evening.   Spent time four great guys and whew,  I am beat after a long but really wonderful kind of day.      I hope this post finds it a great weekend in your world.     And I leave you this Saturday morning with an old track that just seemed fitting.
May 18 2012

Why I Unliked Your Facebook Page

I know that most Facebook users do not yet realize that they have a hard. life time limit of 5,000 pages that they may like.   I have long believed that as more and more users start bumping up against these limits,  page owners will see lots and lots of folks  UN-liking pages they had only  ”liked”  as a very small favor,  back when they were under the perception that Likes had no limit or value.    I found it very striking the other day when my friend Dillon posted something mentioning that he had just un-liked more than a hundred pages.    (Dillon is a very savvy social media user and definitely someone to follow and watch on Facebook.)   I commented to praise him on being so forthright about it and mentioned that I have been quietly unfollowing a number of pages lately myself.    Most of my recent unfollows however have actually been due to page owner mis-management.

Any time there are suddenly ten or more items in my stream,  all posted by the same logo and none of them earth-shatteringly interesting to me,  my first step is always to adjust my settings,  because this is definitely not what I want in my stream.    If it was a friend who posted all of this garbage in my stream,  I change my subscription settings.   I maybe subscribe to only important updates and unsubscribe from all the different kinds of updates.    And if it’s a page that spammed my stream,  I immediately Unlike the page to prevent further spamming.    In a way I (almost) feel sorry for the hapless page owner.   They find it hard to find time to update the page at all,   then finally they go in and post ten updates and boom ten people immediately unlike their page.     Now that Facebook has fully integrated the Buffer application into the post screen for both personal and business pages on Facebook,  there is absolutely no excuse for spamming your followers.   Set your buffer to update your page not too frequently and try hard to always keep it filled up with good an relevant content.   If you are trying to draw and interact with an educated and sophisticated audience,  you absolutely can not afford to come across like a spammer.

May 17 2012

Why Does Facebook Hate Me?

Okay.   So I know all of my friends will just be shocked that I am pissing and moaning about Facebook again.  But today my friend Susan and I seem to have encountered some kind of really nasty Facebook bug.    Susan told me that for some reason no entries at all appear on her Facebook page.    So I went to her page and sure enough.  The header and the comment box load,  but no entries load. If you click on any of the time links at the right (I clicked April),  older posts to the page will load,  but there is no way to see the current posts.    So about an hour later I had to reboot and logged in to find my own page behaving exactly the same way.

It appears that Empire Avenue is tinkering with the algorithms for the different networks.   I notice that my Facebook score has been going up, up, up every day while my WordPress.com score goes down every day.   It seems to me that my networking on these two sites has not changed,  which is why I suspect (as several other players have recently observed) the scoring is undergoing some changes.   This may necessitate more re-writing to Walking Down The Avenue than I had anticipated,  although it is frankly too soon to know what changes might be necessitated in the book,  beyond simply mentioning them.   Also as of now I am assuming this is simply a temporary Facebook glitch that will be fixed fairly soon.   If the problem becomes wide spread and people stop using Facebook,  this could prove to be a significant social media turning point.  (Though I suspect the problem will resolve itself shortly.)

What about you?   Have you encountered the missing posts on Facebook user pages problem?  Do you expect it will be quickly resolved?     Have you noticed changes in the Empire Avenue scoring of different networks?   Has it changed the way you network?    Please leave a comment and let us know.

By Libdrone • Posted in Alan
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May 16 2012

Being Patient With Your Boor

Patience has never been my long suit.     When I want something I tend to want it right now, thank you very much,  and would you please get it for me right away.    Yet patience is an absolutely essential trait in most any kind of planned social media.      Today,   while I should be writing that new book  (and I did get started on it and wrote perhaps 20% of it the other day) I find myself working on an experiment to promote the #definethis daily word game.    It will take several weeks to fully implement this new strategy and will take months in fact to see how well it does or doesn’t pay off.       I think the trick will be to stick with implementing it over those weeks and months until it becomes clear how well it works.    I am trying real hard to learn patience,  as it applies to giving strategies time to prove themselves or clearly fail.  I am not going to go into the strategy here  (I have to save something for the book) but if you enjoy obscure and unusual words,   I certainly invite you to join us in the daily Twitter word game.   Just visit the #definethis blog every day for the latest word and concise instructions.

I also today find myself wanting to tell an acquaintance that he comes across so salesy that I these days am making almost every effort to avoid hearing from him.   Lately this guy seems to send me an instant message every day or so.    I never reply to these IM’s anymore,   and I have already unsubscribed from all of his updates.   We were introduced by someone who is a good bit further along the road from acquaintance to friend in my own personal account books and I really don’t want to un-friend  (because it would likely be noticed and might spark hurt feelings and public sentiments).     Some days,  I wish I weren’t so thoroughly Southern and would just tell the guy to leave me alone.   /sighs   I actually know that I will not ever tell off my salesy acquaintance,  or even admit to him that I find his IM’s annoying.   I know that being gracious with socially inept people is one of the duties of those who would claim to have decent manners.    And sometimes,   putting up with a boor is simply one’s duty.