Info, links, comments and wishlists from a webdiva.
OMG! Jason Calacanis declared Facebook bankruptcy. What does it say that I’ve just gotten on Facebook and some people are having to declare bankruptcy? (found via A VC)
Resources:
I found this great post on the Aviva Directory, entitled “12 Important U.S. Laws Every Blogger Needs to Know.” Which 12?
Found via the Santa Fe Public Library Blog:
Got any you want to share?
Regardles of what you thought about the effectiveness and professionalism of the YouTube sections of the debates between the presidential hopefuls earlier this week (and wasn’t that a mouthful?)… it’s the fact that YouTube played a part at all that captured my attention.
I guess that was the point.
I don’t even have a YouTube account, but am probably going to get one now. Sad, I know, but there you have it.
Resources:
Be a rock star
A lot of people start blogging wanting to make a name for themselves. Unlike me, who started blogging to… blog, really. I wanted to put my words out there, thinking that I had something to add, something to say. Occassionally, connections to make.
Copyblogger tells us that, if you want to be a “rock star” in your niche, you need to “push into other areas”:
For example, you can:
- publish in dead tree trade publications (it still works)
- seek broadcast media attention
- star in a radio show or podcast
- speak at conferences and trade shows
- run your own seminars
- write a book or produce an information product
- work out joint ventures with relevant players
- network like crazy based on all of the above
All good advice.
Subscribe
internet duct tape has a great subscription page (I hope to copy one one, when I get time). There are options available for different technologies and needs. Very efficient.
A comprehensive blogging procedure
Josh Hallet writes about the procedure National Geographic Traveler Magazine has to approve blog posts for the Intelligent Travel blog:
each post on that blog is looked at by at least two researchers and a copy editor before it goes live
That’s… ummm… a lot more work than I’ve seen on any other blog. Does anyone know of another blog with this kind of vetting process?
Resources:
As much as I like to say that blogging is easy, it’s not for everyone. There’s a commitment involved that separates successful blogs from the mediocre or commonplace. Performancing has a list of things you should know that will help you make up your mind:
But don’t worry, there’s still room for you if you decide to make it a go.
If you’re serious about blogging, you can do very well, but don’t jump into it blind. Do your research. Learn how to optimize your content and drive traffic to your blog. Research the different ways in which you can montetize your blog and work on building up a community. The people who take the time to do it right are the ones who do well.
Resources:
This was news to me, but blogging just had it’s tenth year anniversary. At least according to the Wall Street Journal:
It’s been 10 years since the blog was born. Love them or hate them, they’ve roiled presidential campaigns and given everyman a global soapbox. Twelve commentators — including Tom Wolfe, Newt Gingrich, the SEC’s Christopher Cox and actress-turned-blogger Mia Farrow — on what blogs mean to them.[snip]
The consumption of blogs is often avid and occasionally obsessive. But more commonly, it is utterly natural, as if turning to them were no stranger than (dare one say this here?) picking one’s way through the morning’s newspapers. The daily reading of virtually everyone under 40 — and a fair few folk over that age — now includes a blog or two, and this reflects as much the quality of today’s bloggers as it does a techno-psychological revolution among readers of news and opinion.
We are approaching a decade since the first blogger — regarded by many to be Jorn Barger — began his business of hunting and gathering links to items that tickled his fancy, to which he appended some of his own commentary. On Dec. 23, 1997, on his site, Robot Wisdom, Mr. Barger wrote: “I decided to start my own webpage logging the best stuff I find as I surf, on a daily basis,” and the Oxford English Dictionary regards this as the primordial root of the word “weblog.”
[snip]
I’ve been blogging for… 5 or 6 years now. Wow! Time flies. It’s been 10 years and blogging is mainstream, a tool used by business. And it’s still picked on, laughed at and snickered about.
I was at a workshop recently where a roomful of PR professionals where still debating whether they needed to pay attention to what’s said about them and their clients in the blogosphere the same way the track what’s said in mainstream media. I sat there in disbelief.
Then I remember that most people do not live and breathe RSS. Most people only know that they read Web sites and not that they’re blogs. Most people only have a vague concept of what a blog actually is.
Anyway, happy birthday!
Resources:
OK, I don’t even have an “about me” page, so this is really advice I found for myself that I’m sharing. Quick Sprout has a post listing the 4 things you need in an “about me” page. These are:
- Image – I don’t care if you are the ugliest person in the world, you need to place an image of yourself on the about me page. [snip]
- About Yourself – [snip] you also need to discuss your expertise and even life experiences so that you can better brand yourself.
- Helping Others – [snip] The key with a good about me page is that you express how you can help the visitor / reader so that they will remember you.
- Contact – [snip] you need to make it easy for people to contact you through your about me page.
I’ve bookmarked the list to use later.
Resources:
Looks like Internet giant AOL settled out of court instead of taking their chances in a court battle over how they handled people who left their internet dial-up service. From the Houston Chronicle:
Averting a looming court battle over how it has handled the exodus from
its Internet dial-up service, AOL has agreed to make it easier for its
remaining customers to leave as part of a $3 million settlement with 48
states and the District of Columbia.The resolution announced Wednesday was driven by a deluge of complaints
from AOL customers who said they tried to close their accounts, only to
be thwarted in their attempts or discover they were still being billed
for services they thought had been canceled.
I know a lot of people who signed up with AOL and had problems canceling their accounts.
Resources
No, I don’t mean tools for your iPhone (if you actually own one). I mean tools to help you optimize and improve your Web site for display and great user interface on the iPhone.
SitePoint sends us to iPhoney:
Looking for a way to see how your web creations will look on iPhone?
Look no further. iPhoney gives you a pixel-accurate web browsing environment—powered by Safari—that you can use when developing web sites for iPhone. It’s the perfect 320 by 480-pixel canvas for your iPhone development. And it’s free.
Ed Schipul posted a PowerPoint presentation online about what to do and avoid when creating Web pages for iPhone. Since he actually attended iPhoneDevCamp, I’m taking his suggestions as expert.
Have some tools of your own to recommend? Just point me their way.