Elves

Elves, the mythological crafters of toys and trinkets. building toys in a hidden away workshop isn’t too far from blogging in your kitchen. Okay, maybe you don’t toss your blog posts in a bag to be delivered, RSS and email works as well though.

Toy crafting and wrapping is skill, and every good elf learns a few lessons on her way to Chief Toy Painter.

• Target
• there isn’t just one truck or doll, there are hundreds. Each though is built with a specific child (or adult) in mind. Little Susie digs pink trucks, and Johnny needs that zombie dolls. Likewise blog posts need to have a target audience.  Creating a post is powerful but needs an audience that will appreciate it. Writing about compost on your photo blog won’t likely go over well.
• Looks
• elves color and trick out the toys. Ever seen a grey plastic truck? A faceless doll? A makeup kit with just black and white? No. Blog posts need a good look and feel as well. Bloggers can use photos to dress things up. Good use of headings, bullet points, and color choices are important as well. Black on white text still rules but a bright picture and easy to read text are keepers.
• Playability
• the doll that doesn’t bend, the truck with wheels that don’t move, and the train with no track – we’d never see a elf send those to kids. Likewise, a blog post needs to be interactive. Let us play with them. Share buttons is a good start and I love being able to comment. Bonus interaction can include videos, recordings, and other downloads.
• Timing
• Toys arrive on time, if sadly only one day a year. Blog posts can go out night or day, holiday or not. Timeliness though isn’t easy. An article you write at midnight on Tuesday and posted then might get zero views. Sent out at 6:30 Wednesday it’s instantly more visible and possibly at the top of readers emails or RSS feed. Heck, this extends well to Twitter and Facebook.
• Delivery
• Finally, delivery, what elves out source to the guy in the red suit. We bloggers do the same thing. Posts go out via RSS feed, email, and automatic postings to Twitter, Facebook and more. The sleigh was fast, our methods are faster, and yet not as classy. You’ve taken the time to get all the rest right, and your RSS feed is plain text, part of the article, or just a picture. The email might be all there but an ad fills the bottom or worse the whole left side. Guess what gets ignored, sleigh or Flash ad?

Maybe you don’t believe in elves or flying sleighs but they are the gold standard. Creative, solid, and delivered with style.

What have you learned from elves, reindeer or spinning a dreidel? Send me your tips or photos of those pesky elves.

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And it’s a dang mess!

Here’s some of the feedback:

• Widgets seemed “random” – no focus.
• I wondered where pic was and short bio
• the need to scroll continuously is annoying
• too much going on in the right sidebar
• American Fonts – like our waists – are increasing “14 is the new 12″.
• I wasn’t sure what blog was about, looked for short description near header.
• the thing about the sidebar for me is that it doesn’t help me understand what the blog is about, its focus
• I too like the simplicity but the sidebar doesn’t help me discover your blog. Try moving recent/popular posts to the top.
• I think perhaps rearranging the items a little, with recent posts higher up.
• Need COLOR!
• A short “About me” would be helpful
• I wasn’t sure what blog was about, looked for short description near header.
• Agreed. Endless scrolling seems messy to me.
• I see you have 2 search bars in the sidebar. Seems redundant. Ditch the one you like least.
• I thought the sidebar looks a mess, it needs cleaning up.
• It’d be great to have a clear “This is what this site will do for you” explanation
• I’m thinking there are too many options here at your blog.
• I came for content and I left for some ad
• i would like to see a summary of what the blog is all about about.
• Different colours, ads all over the place, LI profile halfway down below the fold.

The list goes on and on. Talk about generosity!

All of this feedback is from a blog review discussion during a #blogchat Sunday session.  Mack Collier, founder of #blogchat, introduced blog reviews on the Third Sunday of the month. It’s been a smashing success.

Two more blogs, The Nerd Connection and Senior Care Corner, were on the chopping block as well.

Starting promptly at 8 CST, the commentary came fast and furious. Thankfully my blog survived the traffic and even allowed a few comments. The Nerd Connection didn’t fair so well.

Each blog author received feedback specific to their blog. That said, much of commentary applies across the board. Much to take away here for any blogger.

What Happens Next?

This hot mess gets some love. Upgrading the theme made #1 on the list.

More immediate changes

• Remove Google connect
• Reduce front page post count
• Ditch several sidebar items

The work is begun. Expect dust. Your favorite bits and pieces may disappear, content displayed differently, and topics will be focused again.

It’s going to be work. It’s going to be fun. Feel free to jump in and help, cheer, or bring the iced tea.

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Tojosan’s FAQs That Won’t Be Answered

You found the Internet. You had something to say. You started a blog.

Everyday someone else joins the Internet, discovers blogs, and decides they want to join the blogging world.

What questions are they asking you that you tire of answering or not answering?

I’d like to share this and a few other frequently asked questions that I won’t be answering.

1. What is the best blogging platform?
2. What is the best domain registrar?
3. What can I do to get more readers?
4. What is the trick to making money on my blog?
5. How come you don’t have 1000 comments; what makes you an expert?

These are not technical questions. These are high level excuses to avoid blogging. In the end, none of these matters.

Answers to these frequently asked blogging questions? One answer.

Start a blog. Write blog posts. Share the posts, or don’t.

When they have a real question, they can come back.

What are real blogging questions?

I’ll give you one.

The image I put at the top of my blog makes my page take 10 seconds to load. Here’s the image. What did I do wrong.

What blogging questions wear you out? Are they excuses to stall before that person blogs? Or are they honest real questions where the answer will move them forward.

Tell me your questions.

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Click through to the Ultimate Blog Party 2011

The 2011 Ultimate Blog Party has kicked off.  April gets rung in big with @5minutesformom and 5minutesformom.com blog party.

What is it?

The Ultimate Blog Party is just that — the ultimate place to party and meet new friends, (but no babysitters, airplanes, or tickets necessary!)

I’m on board with that!

The party is not just about having a bit of fun and vacation; it’s about introducing bloggers to one another.  Ice breaker on steroids!

In that spirit, here’s a bit about me.

Sharon, my wife, and I have been married 27 years this April.  It’s been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs.

Shortly after being married I entered the Navy, heading off to Chicago while leaving her and son in Missouri. It was a long two months as a newlywed.

The Navy brought her to Chicago with me for school, then Orlando and finally Massachusetts.  It was time then to ship out.

Somehow we survived two tours being on submarines, another school, and a final tour of duty in New Orleans.

It was in Nawlins that we really entered the digital world together. She helped me kickstart Assassin’s Lair BBS. Sharon helped me vet new members and keep the discussion going.

Since leaving the Navy after 11 1/2 years, we’ve settled in St. Charles County. We’ve raised our boys and had a hand in raising our granddaughters as well.

Blogging

Bulletin boards, participating and running them, lead directly into Internet use. In turn, that lead me to blogging.

I’ve been on Livejournal, Geocities, Angelfyre, and more of the early systems. Ended up on WordPress self hosted version. It gives me a lot of flexibility with not a lot of rules.  The framework is well worn in and well supported.

What do I blog about?

It’s all about social networking, books, and technology. Okay, that sounds dry but I like to spice it up a bit here and there.  I’m a big believer in supporting causes as well, so you’ll see posts on fund raising, feeding the hungry, and promoting voting.

I’m also a big fan of giving people some insight into best practices, worst choices, and finding peace with the rest.  It’s easier than you think to fit in with the social networking than you’d think.

Party time

My ultimate party time? A room filled with friends, the music not too loud, and snacks and beverages. There’d be places to sit, room to stand, and great wifi. ( You gotta know that’s important.)

No costumes required nor the ability to dance. Low stress rocks.

And how about you

What’s your story? What has brought you were you are? What’s your idea of a great party? Give it up!

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Violet Blue runs a great blog, TinyNibbles.com. Part of that includes sharing cool things including photos, stories, and of course stickers. Very special, NSFW stickers!

Being so generous, if you contact her and ask for cool stickers, she sends them out personally. Even taking the time to seal the envelope with a Violet Blue sticker, one with her address on it.

You know I had to ask for some!

I immediately had to snap some pics of the stickers and envelope. Said pictures ended up on Flickr moments later. My faux pas? Forgetting to black out the address on the label.

Seen above, only her name and blog title show on the sticker. This change was made at Violet’s request but I should not have needed a reminder.

Best practice – don’t share if you weren’t specifically given permission. In this situation, it would open Violet to any random person being able to reach out to her. She doesn’t routinely give out her address, preferring to control access.

This falls in the category of  - don’t out people.

• don’t give out their phone number
• don’t share their address
• don’t share their partner preference
• don’t share their kids names

You get the idea. Making this a normal part of our behavior is all it takes to be considerate of others.

/rant off – Contact @violetblue and ask for some of those keen NSFW stickers. You and your friends will enjoy them.

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Flickr, my first big social network, ups the social sharing.  Here’s the scoop from their blog:

Today we’re announcing an update to our share functionality to help you make Flickr the hub for your photos on the Internet. If you’re anything like us, you probably have multiple places out there on the Internet where you express yourself. Maybe you use Facebook to connect to your college friends, Twitter for people who share your interests, or your blog as your megaphone to the world. The changes we’re releasing today make it easier to upload once to Flickr and get your photos out to other places you showcase your photos on the web!

What’s in it for you? One button sharing to your Twitter and Facebook accounts, and to your blogs.

icons - (l-r) email, Twitter, Facebook, More

This replaces the old style drop down for sharing. You’re going to ask about being logged in right?  No more! Even if you don’t have a Flickr account you’ll be able to share photos, sets, and more.

How does it work?

Across the top of the image, the menu includes Favorite, Actions, and little icons.  Each icon represents a one-click sharing option – email, Twitter, Facebook. That fourth icon down arrow opens the box shown above, Share this on.

The pop up box includes Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Blogger, and WordPress by default. Don’t see your old favorites? They’re gone.

NOTE: email option replaces the previous ‘share with’ option on photos. Use this to not only email but also share photos with other Flickr users. TO box takes either.

This is also where you’ll find the Grab the link and Grab the HTML options.

Something else to notice here – share preferences and more ways to share.

Share preferences leads to the setup options for blogs, Twitter, and Facebook accounts. As well, here you’ll find those other services you’ve granted access to your Flickr account.

More ways to share simply opens an additional block of blog buttons, adding Livejournal as an option.

Summary:

Flickr gives you one click sharing for the most common choices. It works better as well, not requiring leaving the screen.

Flickr added Livejournal and removed the requirement to be a Flickr user.

The downside is some of the options have moved around. Once through the navigation will ease that pain.

The question:

How has your experience been with the update sharing interface? Have you discovered something else about this change to share? Hate it? Love it?

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at which point he leans in to tell me I'm not up on the latest tech

I’m a tech blogger without the latest gadgets. I confess; it’s always been that way.

Surprised? It’s not as common as you might believe from all the blogging done about technology, gadgets and the like. Only a handful of bloggers get early or preview release copies of apps and and iPads.

Feeling guilty about that is just sill then isn’t it? I had my doubts the other night talking to B.B.. (shown above)

B.B. arrived at the tweetup and immediately came over.

“I have a serious question to ask you,” he said.

“Go ahead sir, ” I responded.

“Do you have the iPad 2 yet?”

“No,” I said as I looked down, shaking my head.

“Well, you’re behind then. My grandmother has an iPad 2.”

BAM! Immediate ‘tech have not’ guilt hit me. Brought down by a boy the age of my granddaughters.

We sat down to chat further. He explained how his grandmother had just purchased and iPad 2 and was already a wiz. He wanted to know why I didn’t have one yet.

The answer? SxSW sucked my wallet dry for a couple of weeks. That coupled with a lack of immediate need to own one had made it a no brainer to not stand in line.

I took a step down in my young friend’s eyes but I’m over that now. Talking with other geeks, the consensus is that it’s no crime to wait. That and the fact there is plenty to blog about in general means one can stay relevant without constant spending.

How about you? What’s your opinion? What’s your practice? Do you keep up?

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A Skinny Diet Pepsi Perspective

Diet Pepsi Skinny makes a great photo subject. I used a couple of cans for practicing what I’m learning in Understanding Exposure. You’re encourage to try different combinations to achieve the same exposure.

Sharing those pictures on Twitter got me a small bit of attention:

It never occurred to me to post any photos to a Pepsi page on Facebook or elsewhere. I’m a huge fan though.

Posting a handful of photos garnered more feedback via comments and ‘likes’ than expected. Apparently the Pepsi folks nailed what might be interesting.

Thanks Pepsi for inviting me to show off a bit. If you ever do want to officially license some photos, be sure to let me know.

If you’re a fan of Pepsi photography, be sure to check out Pepsi Cola Fan on Flickr.

Have you had any companies reach out to you? What did you do or share?

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Storify is another blogging platform. If you use Zemanta, a WordPress plug-in, you’ve seen context sensitive articles and photos displayed to click and add to your posts. Storify takes it up a notch by providing a blogging platform where everything is added by search.

Storify describes its self as follows:

Storify is a way to tell stories using social media such as Tweets, photos and videos. You search multiple social networks from one place, and then drag individual elements into your story. You can re-order the elements and also add text to give context to your readers.

Let me give you one reason why you might like Storify – view tracking.

Shown are the views for a Storify article. At the top if the total views, beneath, sorted by view count, is the number of views on each site.

The counts are not broken down to show the actual post URL on the site referenced. Interestingly, since the embed is a script, this will record views any place the content is shared.

View count is important to follow article traction.  Numbers only at this point, Storify could easily provide a view count graph and increase the value to content creators.

Look forward to another post or two on the Storify interface and creating a blog post.

Go.Storify.Share.

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