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What is Blogging? -Part I of Why Blog?

What is Blogging?

In the Twenty-First Century, the Internet is taking over communication, entertainment, information sharing, and more. The reason is simple - endless amounts of information and entertainment. Through the World Wide Web, anyone and everyone can find out anything for themselves and then tell the world what they think. Once they’re done with that, web browsers can find endless entertainment by watching videos on YouTube, playing games, chatting with friends through the vast amounts of social networking web sites (like Facebook or MySpace), or what ever else imaginable. Just about anything can be achieved through the Internet - the only limit is human intuition.

One of the key components of modern communication is blogging. Blogging is “the design and editing of a blog (or weblog)”* whereas a blog is “a personal or corporate website in the form of an online journal, with new entries appearing in sequence as they are written.”* In plain English however, blogging is an online journal about what ever the author (or authors) choose to write about. However, unlike a paper-based journal, anyone in the world with an Internet connection can read what you write. Blogs can delve into subjects such as sports, current events, or even how to blog.

Traditional journals are simple. They have a front, a back, usually a title page saying “This journal belongs to: ____,” and then (typically) about one hundred pages filling the space in-between the front and back. Blogs on the other hand are a lot more complicated. Blogs require a host, a blogging engine, a layout, and content - aside from the many other additional components that are required to make a ‘good’ blog. Starting with the basics, a blog requires a host and a blogging engine. A host is a service that places your information on the web for visitors to view and a blogging engine is a program that posts your information on your host. Both of those are easily obtained for free by completing a simple form on web sites like Wordpress.com, Blogger.com, and Xanga.com. However, many Bloggers go a step further and purchase a hosting service and install a blogging engine (like Wordpress). The results are full control over every aspect of the blog. Upon installation (or sign-up), the new blog is automatically outfitted with a default layout (the basic content arrangement and visual appeal*) - which is usually changed. When content is posted, a blog is online, accessible to anyone with the Internet.

Why do people blog? There are many reasons to blog, most of which vary depending on the blog’s main topic. The most common reason to blog is personal enjoyment. The second most common reason for blogging is to make money, either as a cash flow supplement or as a sole form of income. Thirty-five percent of blogs receive fewer than one hundred unique visitors per day* - which typically, isn’t enough to earn a living. Forty-six percent of Bloggers receive between one hundred one unique visitors and two thousand five hundred unique visitors* - which still isn’t enough to earn a living, but could be enough to supplement a blogger’s ‘real’ job’s income.

To hear what the bloggers themselves have to say about blogging,
stay tuned for Part II…

My Wordpress Disaster (Nearly)

As bloggers, we all have the same fear - losing our blog. We put so much hard work into our blogs that we nearly faint with the thought of losing it all. At night when we’re asleep, we toss and turn with the nightmare that in an instant, everything could be gone - forever.

Ok, so maybe not the nightmare part.
But losing our blog certainly is our worst fear.

Now, plainBETA has been online since May 10th, 2007. (For those of us who are slow at math, that’s about five months) Since then, I have not upgraded Wordpress once. After reading about how to make your Wordpress blog safer, I figured it would be a good idea to do so.

But I didn’t get around to it. I kept putting it off, and putting it off… And then I slapped myself and said, “Brian, just do it!” So, I did.
Or thought I did.

Turns out, I screwed something up - and my blog was gone. Completely and utterly gone. Thus began the scariest fifteen minutes of my life.

I worked and worked and worked, and finally got my blog back.

What did I do? I followed Wordpress’s Extended Upgrading Instructions.

How dumb can I get?

What You Can do to Avoid the Horror

1: Backup Your Blog
After that scare, I cannot impress how important backing up your blog is. And it’s not that hard! So do it!
Simply go to your Admin Control Panel > Manage > Export > click “Download Export File.”
For extra security, backup your Wordpress files in a secondary place - in addition to your computer’s hard drive. Simply placing the files on a flash drive, CD, or a service like Mozy can save you a world of pain.

2: Keep Wordpress Upgraded
Despite how scary upgrading Wordpress is, it should be done. Just be careful not to copy the ‘wp-content’ folder and your ‘wp-config’ folder, and you’re as right as rain.

3: Double Check Before You Click ‘Delete’
Have you ever accidentally deleted a file without meaning to? Yeah - me too.
When the file is on a computer it’s no problem - simply retrieve the deleted file from the trash bin. But when you’re in the internet, it’s a whole different story.
Web services do not move your information to a trash bin. When you click delete, it’s gone forever.
So before you click delete, pause for a moment and make sure you’re deleting what you want to.

So keep yourself safe!
Don’t lose that blog!

My Traffic Sources

I am a small blog. Plain and simple.
So what can you learn from my traffic sources?
Well, a lot actually - especially if you have a small blog.
So, let’s dive into my stats.

my traffic sources as of 9.20.07 - yes, they’re lame aren’t they?

As you can tell, referrals are by far my greatest traffic source. Second is direct, which is probably made up mostly of my RSS subscribers. And third is search engines.

Let’s get a little more detail.

(click to enlarge)

In the break down, direct visitors are in first. In second is clicks from Random Jabber, followed by PhotoshopLovr, Digg, Xanga, ProBlogger, and then some insignificant others.

So, why do the stats fall out like they do?

I have been an RSS subscriber of Random Jabber since about two months after it’s inception. plainBETA topics are pretty much the same as Random Jabber’s. Since I discovered Random Jabber, I have been the leading commenter by a good deal. Furthermore, my bounce rate is at 35.85% from Random Jabber (my over all bounce rate is 54.93%) and on average, Random Jabber visitors visit 5.32 pages per visit. That is pretty good.

After Random Jabber is PhotoshopLovr. Similar to Random Jabber, I have been a RSS subscriber and regular commentor there less than a month after it’s inception. However, unlike Random Jabber, PhotoshopLovr covers a different topic than my blog and it shows in my stats. My bounce rate from PhotoshopLovr is at 53.57%. That is a bad bounce rate.

Following Photoshop Lovr is Digg. I submitted my article The new iPod Nano (and iPods) article to Digg (here) and didn’t get a single digg. But I did get twenty three clicks with a bounce rate of 91.3%. (which is the worst bounce rate I have)

Next in the rankings is Xanga. Those clicks came from my Xanga blog and was simply an attempt to get my friends active in my blog. Through that attempt, I know I got two RSS subscribers and two regular commenters.

And the final stat we’re going to analyze is ProBlogger. I have been subscribed to ProBlogger ever since I wanted to have a ‘professional blog.’ Since then, I have been a regular commenter and have tried to throw in as much quality as I can. That has resulted in a 66.67% bounce rate.

Google Searches don’t show up until #8.

So What Does This Tell Us?

By analyzing these stats we can come to several conclusions.

1: Commenting on Similar Blogs Works
If you comment regularly, and with substance, on blogs that address similar topics as yours, you’ll get quality visitors.

2: Commenting on Differing Blogs Doesn’t Work as Well
If you comment regularly on blogs, even with substance, but those blogs address different topics, then you get poor visitors.

3: Digg Only Works if You Get Lucky
Despite how many blogs become famous through Digg, you have to be lucky to do so. You need the right people to discover it and digg it at the right time. It’s quite dicy.

4: Get Your Friends in on Your Blog
This only works if your friends care deeply for you, or have an interest in the topic you’re blogging on. But, if any of your friends fit in those two catagories, you’ll get subscribers who will comment.

5: Commenting on Large Blogs Isn’t as Effective
If you comment regularly on large blogs, you will get visitors, but not as many as if you comment on smaller related blogs. However, if you get lucky, you could get featured in a post, which will result in a large amount of visitors. (Example - see point #4)

What about you?
Where do you get your visitors?

Don’t Throw BlogRush Out Yet…

Remember that BlogRush hype about a week ago? (Learn More) Well, right after it’s launch, practically everyone in the blogosphere signed up for BlogRush hoping to get tons of visitors through it. Needless to day, BlogRush didn’t live up to the expectations that everyone had.

This is due mostly to spammers, too broad of categories, and only one widget.

BlogRush Issue #1 - Spam Blogs
In the web world, people still have the disillusioned idea that you can make money from a web site that tells you nothing, but has a lot of AdSense Ads. These web sites hoped to get on the BlogRush bandwagon and put the widget on their web site. Thus, honest blogs were having their links show up there, and wouldn’t ever get clicked on.
BlogRush is fixing that problem by using a manual submission process. Each new BlogRush member has their blog manually reviewed.

BlogRush Issue #2 - Straight Up Spammers
There are lots of dishonest people in the web world, and BlogRush users are no exception. There were people who designed bots to automatically load pages to earn points for their BlogRush account. And like the Spam Blogs issue, no one was looking at those pages, so all of us honest bloggers weren’t getting our links viewed.
BlogRush is fixing this issue by introducing security measures that are above my head - but they’re supposed to fix that problem.

BlogRush Issue #3 - Broad Categories
Argubly, the greatest issue BlogRush has delt with is their broad categories. Some blog’s posts simply weren’t related to the blogs they were being displayed on through the BlogRush widget - and thus, no click throughs.
BlogRush is fixing this third problem by introducing more specific categories.

BlogRush Issue #4 - Only One Widget
The final problem that BlogRush has is only one widget. (view it) BlogRush is taking care of this final issue by adding BlogRush Flavors. There will now be twelve different ‘flavors’ to the BlogRush widget (Check them out!) which should be versitile enough to fit with just about any blog color scheme.

So, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water and wait a little longer before casting your final verdict on BlogRush.

Don’t have a BlogRush account? Sign up now!

BlogRush - A New Way to Get Visitors

BlogRush is a new blogging sensation and has attracted a lot of internet hype. Whether the hype is justified or not is yet to see.

The idea behind the service is simple. You put this on your blog:

and you get visitors.

How does it work?
In that widget are links to other blogs that use BlogRush - and links to your blog are in there too (somewhere). When ever a page is loaded with the widget (one page view), you get one point. One point will earn you one link in that widget on someone else’s blog.

Simple!
You show off some other related blogs, you get shown off. Great! It’s the ‘ol “you rub my back, and I’ll rub yours” idea.

There is one other component to BlogRush. Affiliates. BlogRush made a smart move and created an amazing affiliate program. If you refer someone, then you will get one point for each widget page view he/she has, and for everyone they refer, and for everyone they refer - up to ten generations! Pretty cool huh?

Confused? Don’t worry - go to BlogRush.com and watch the video on their home page - it is very well done and easy to understand.

Now, the question is, does it work?
We shall see.
Since BlogRush is new, no one can truly say for sure how well it works, what bounce rate it gives, and if those visitors will turn into subscribers.

There’s only one way to find out - try it out!
So what are you waiting for? Go sign up!

Note: Affiliate links in post.
[thx to ProBlogger for the heads up]

Blogs are Living Organisms

I am convinced that blogs are alive. Why? Well, let me explain.

1: Blogs grow, mature, and gain influence.
When humans are young, they’re very ignorant/immature^*, small, and can’t offer much. But as they grow, their knowledge grows, their abilities increase, and they can offer more. Blogs are the same way. When they’re first concieved and launched, they’re ignorant. They don’t have much knowledge in their databases - but that steadily changes as the blog offers more and more content. As the database grows, the quality grows as well. As the experience increases, the quality increases as well. When they reach maturity, they can offer a wide range of knowledge built up from months/years of learning, bookmarking, and comment discussions.

2: Blogs have a heart.
People have a heart - it keeps the life-giving blood pumping through their veins. Blogs also have hearts - the blogger. The blogger pumps the life-giving content, networking, and follow-up comments flowing through out every pixel of the blog. Without the blogger, the content doesn’t come, the networking doesn’t reach, and the follow-up comments never appear.

3: Blogs have a soul.
People have souls. The soul defines a person - it makes him/her who he/she is. Blogs also have a soul. Like the heart, a blog’s soul rests in the blogger. The blogger gives the blog it’s character, uniqueness, and personality. The blogger’s own personality seeps out every corner of the blog - the posts, the layout, the content, the pages, the comments - everything. The blogger defines the blog.

4: Blogs have their own unique look.
Everyone looks different - some more so than others. Many people strive to look like their favorite actor/actress, and end up looking very similar - but they still look different. Blogs also look different. Each blog offers it’s own visual appeal. Yes, with layouts many blogs look alike - but they’re not. There are some differences between them - especially in the content (the soul). Each blog will choose it’s look based on what it is trying to express - just like people will.

5: Blogs have friends.
Everyone has friends. Some are more social than others - and some prefer a few intimate friends. Blogs are that same way. Some are like actors - everyone knows them. Their relationships are very stiff and professional. Others are small, have a small, but intimate, following. Everyone knows everyone - and they all chat on the comment board. And yet others are in-between. They have a small intimate following and the not-so-close acquaintances that pop in and out.

All in all, blogs are very similar to people. They contain many of the same aspects and will grow just like any human.

There, I’ve said my piece - but I was rather concise about it (which I often do).
But what do you think? Are blogs alive or not? If so, what else makes them live?

Blog Action Day ‘07

October 15, 2007 - another Blog Action Day.
This year’s topic is the enviorment.

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

There are three ways you can participate. Or… so BlogActionDay.org says. You could probably come up with more ways - so be creative!

Option #1: Post on your blog relating to the environment on Blog Action Day
Option #2: Donate your day’s earnings to an environmental charity
Option #3: Promote Blog Action Day around the web

It shall be interesting to see what blogs put out, that’s for sure.