Problogger, aka Darren Rowse, is always full of great ideas. His recent article, How to Improve Your Blog When You Have No Internet Access, is another bundle of them. Shared with a bit of a wink, they are some simple suggestions for when your access is down but you want to blog.
The most underrated one on the list is the last one.
Take a Break – perhaps the universe is trying to tell you something by conspiring to bring your internet down. Why not go with the offline thing and go for a walk, play with your kids, take your better half out for a coffee, have a sleep, read a book….. your blog will still be there when your internet is working again.
I find I don’t do this enough. Oh, I play on the computer and stuff, but I’m not really making some down time or taking advantage of it to enrich my life.
Origami has become one of my new downtime hobbies. Heck, I’m enjoying it so much I started an origami blog, Folding Paper.
Another great down time way to help your blogging along is taking picture. Bring your camera wherever you go, even if it’s a cheap one. Take pictures of people, architecture, plants, water, birds, and everything in between. This is a wonderful way to get your own stock footage for your blog. So many people ignore pictures all together, yet I continually get compliments on photos I include with blog posts.
Just had to share this video. Darren Rowse, aka Problogger, shares his 5 important tips to landing a job as a blogger. This is a frequently asked question on the Problogger site, and just around on the net. I’m interested myself, so watch out for the competition.
Welcome to the series Sunday Social Networking Tips. The plan is to bring in folks to share their best ideas about social networking. The next person to write up a tip could be you!
Tip:
Share what you love.
Bloggers blog. Twitter buds tweet. It’s all about communicating. One is less spontaneous than the other. One is much shorter. None the less, it’s someone saying something.
The problem at first with either is that you’ve been cursed with the desire to shout something to the world. Maybe you can no longer stand the birds outside your window. Perhaps you’ve suddenly become a grandparent. It could be that car wreck you’re recovering from. Whatever the reason, you can no longer not share about it.
So you take up your blog, get a social networking account or three and you start in. At first, even with this deep passion, you fumble out your words. You don’t ‘get it’ at first. New friends come hard right along side the word struggles.
One day though, it happens. You’re writing, communicating, sharing, and the flood gates are open. You feel like no one can stop you. A hundred folks follow you online, and a few dozen catch your blog every day. Things are better than you’d have thought even a week before. It’s a slice of heaven.
BAM. They start on you. Oh, trust me, if they haven’t yet, it’s soon to be. It’s the ones that seem like friends that will do the worst damage. The naysayers, the second guessers, and the ‘experts’ are at your virtual doorstep, and they’ve come to share, “you’re doing it wrong!”
Wow! It hits you. You aren’t making any money with your blog. A thousand folks aren’t following you. Are you seriously still talking about your grandchild and all of those experiences? Sure you’re getting some comments and links, but you wake up to the fact that those are just fellow grandparents. They aren’t big wigs in the blogging and soc net world. The question hits you between the eyes, “what am I doing? how did I get to this point?”
I’m here to tell you shut up that talk now. STOP. SHUT IT. STOP ALREADY.
Have you stopped?
No seriously, not stopped the social networking or the blogging, but the beat down you’re putting on yourself. Now breathe. Are you there yet? I’m going to speak some truth to you. You need to hear it.
Don’t stop doing what you’re already doing with your blog and Twitter or Facebook or whatever. That’s right. Don’t stop doing it.
What’s happening with those other folks, your ‘friends’ and ‘experts’ is that they are trying to squeeze you into their ‘ideal model’ of what a blogger/tweeter/etc is. To them you should be the next Gary V, or Chris B. You’re not.
That’s not a bad thing. Contrarily, it’s a great thing. You’re you, with your unique way to see the world and relate it. Gosh dang, you went from zero followers to hundreds already. If that’s not success, then no amount of adding numbers or dollars will help.
So what if you’re not making a living off of it. Is that what drove you to start a blog or join Facebook or Flickr? HELL NO!
Trust me right now. If you give that up, at best you’ll always ask why you stopped sharing your passion, at worst, you’ll stop contributing anything meaningful for quite some time, and be miserable doing it.
Put your virtual foot down and keep that shingle out. Push through. Yep, cliche, but do it. I’ll be here. Your friends in arms that share your passion will too.
If you’ve read this far, and have stopped talking about your kids, your accident, your addiction, then I challenge you to put your fingers to the keys today and go to it. To heck with continuity. To heck with a plan. Deep passion lives to be fed and only through expression can it be sated.
Hope this helps. Share your good stuff and remember to breathe. And while you’re here, tell me about your passion, share your blog, your Twitter ID and whatever comes to mind.
From one don to the next, here’s my Mafia Wars top ten tips:
1) Buy the Abandoned Lot/Mafia Mike’s in pairs as your mafia grows. You can basically buy one on every even numbered count. They can’t be robbed and give the best return for the investment.
2) Master the tiers early. It takes doing three sets of a tier to master it but each one gives a bonus.
3) Mastering each task also gives a +1 Godfather point.
4) Bank any extra money immediately. Don’t fight with money in your pocket.
5) Keep an eye out for the Limited Edition Loot. usually a decent item.
6) Complete the tiers, get rewards. They give bonuses as well.
7) Publish your wish list. Folks will give you the missing pieces. Avoid killing someone. No more than two or three attacks when you fight.
9) Don’t bother robbing anyone, they’ll just rob you back or put out a hit on you.
10) Profile pts – keep your attack and defense high, but also put most of your extra pts into energy. Now that I rarely get knocked out so much I put most points in energy.
So you’re a zombie now. That weird flu got you. But you’re still a social networking enthusiast and don’t want to lose your edge just because you lost your life.
With the help of my Twitter bud, I’ve assembled a list of useful social networking tips for zombies. It’s still a work in progress, and I’m not sure you’ll be able to read them anyway. Some zombie expert might be able to translate for you, but grrr and rargh might not have enough variations to convey all of the nuances.
Oh well. Worst case you can eat their brains. So here they are, zombie social networking tips straight from Twitter.
Don’t limit your circle of friends to just those that are like you. (via @versadave)
Engage intellectuals their braaaaains are better. (via @h3nryd00d)
Don’t use the words brain, blood, sucking or eating in your blog or presentations. (via @boobtubious)
Wear cologne/ body spray. Rotting flesh smells icky. (via @JenWojcik)
If your mom is on facebook bring air freshener. (via @h3nryd00d)
Quit dragging your leg in YouTube videos. (via @h3nryd00d)
Thanks for your participation and brain stretching. The zombies will appreciate the added nodes in there.
This post was an exercise is getting folks to think outside the norm. Too many times we don’t feed our creativity. We see things the way we always have. Social networking and media is suffering the same problem. Folks get into ruts, severe ruts. They end up sharing the same old stuff. The same ideas make the rounds, in circles. The disruptions get less and less.
Today, infuse some disruption into your life stream online.
Welcome to a new series on Social Networking Tips. The plan is to bring in folks to share their best ideas about social networking. The next person to write up a tip could be you! (this one is a day late)
Tip:
Fun.
We’ve talked about engagement and contact, sharing and searching, but we’ve not talked about what to talk about. I’ll be honest with you though, my first inclination wasn’t to share fun stuff. I’m no joke master; I honestly can’t remember punch lines. That in mind, I’ve actually found even I can have success sharing fun things on my social networks.
Tips for sharing fun stuff:
share stuff you aren’t embarrassed about your kids reading
share stuff you aren’t embarrassed about your mom reading
everything else goes
Short tips list huh? Well I wanted to get those easy ones out of the way first.
pictures – like the one above – they make people laugh and smile – always a winner. Also photos of kids have an ‘aw’ factor you don’t get out of pics of yourself.
videos – there are tons of these shared everyday – don’t bother creating your own unless you’ve got the time – share the funniest thing you’ve seen today.
stories – now these are best when told about yourself – even better if they are short. Short doesn’t mean 2 pages, it means two paragraphs, or shorter.
Some suggestions though to go with these very short tips.
test out the humor on your wife, kids, dog first – if they don’t laugh it’s not funny
nudity <> funny, funny first, nudity if it fits
gross humor isn’t automatically funny, remember funny first, gross is a bonus
funny stuff with kids is the best and most likely to go viral, barring that, teens baring their souls with poetry, dance, or making music is a close second
Hope this helps. Share the good stuff, reshare the other good stuff.
I’ve started a new series over on Dadomatic.com. It’s about getting healthy.
I’ll be sharing insights, tips and tricks that might wife and I have learned in our ongoing effort to be healthier.
The articles won’t be written by experts unless there’s a guest writer. Nor will the articles be written for those that are already health nuts. The target audience is ordinary moms and dads. Folks like me that have always struggled, and still have to work hard to make an impact.
I hope you’ll join me there. My first article is already up. It’s titled Work in Progress. The plan is to put together an article each week with advice I’ve lived myself. Expect to read about recipes gone wrong, bad efforts at exercise and why sometimes it just doesn’t matter.
Your interest peaked yet? Well, I’d like to challenge you to visit and laugh along, share your stories, and keep your eyes peeled for a contest or two. Nanna J and I have found some good resources we’d like to share. (A little secret though; none of them are secrets, magic cures, or special pills. Just saying.)
Drop me a line here if you’re interested in sharing a story, pictures, or prize.
Hello and welcome to Twitter. You’ve just been introduced to potentially millions of new friends. Your buddy introduced you and so you started by following him. It’s a fun feeling so you want to branch out and follow more folks. You found this great post by Liz Strauss with lots of great folks to add. STOP.
That’s right. STOP.
Don’t add those folks yet. Your experience won’t be quite what you expect. These folks won’t be quite as welcoming as your friend was. What? Aren’t they the best on Twitter?
Those folks are going to welcome you, but those folks are heavy Twitter users and are going to expect a few things from you too on the heavy participation.
No, no chicken sacrifices or anything, but just some common courtesy things that your friend wouldn’t need. Your friend knows you, these folks want to know you and be your friend.. Yes, they actually will get to know you.
So what can you do? Here’s a few simple tips before you tweet:
Add an icon – believe it or not this a big one but is the easiest thing to fix. And to make it easier, if you don’t have a pic you’d like to use, download this face. Just choose the smallest one.
Fill in your one line bio – put something here about yourself. Mention what you do for a living, or something that defines you. Father, mother, consultant, etc. Key here is not to be yet another “I’ll make you rich” listing. We’ll figure that out quick enough if it’s true. So seriously, put something fun or interesting here.
Fill in your website - no, we don’t want it to link back your Twitter page. If you don’t have a website, just leave it blank. If you don’t represent your employer, don’t put that page here either. Got naked pic site? Maybe don’t put that link here either. You’ll find out soon enough if we’re interested in that. Don’t put your MySpace page here either. Honestly, folks won’t appreciate it.
Check that person’s profile and tweets – you’ll be glad you did. If you were to check mine for instance you’d see that I’ve posted over 37,000 public Twitter messages. That works out to some months where I’ve posted thousands. I’m not the only one. You may find me too busy to have in your stream. Also, if you’re going to follow someone, their profile and tweet history will tell you if what they are posting or will post might be offensive to you. You’ll also get a sense of who they talk to. Those folks might scare you as well.
Get a Twitter client – You can find a list of Twitter clients that Twitter recommends. These programs set on your desktop and let you watch your Twitter stream go by without having to visit Twitter.com. They’ll also allow you to post messages from your desktop. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did this. My favorite right now is Tweetdeck.
Okay, now you’re ready to join the big dogs. Those things above will already take you out of the newbie mode before you even join the mainstream of Twitter.
Cheers to your joining us on Twitter. I look forward to seeing your smiling face and checking out your website and your tweets.
Pathwords is a Facebook word game by zynga. If you’ve not played it, but love word games, check out Pathwords. This article is to give you some tips once you’ve wet your whistle.
First off, it’s important to understand the scoring. Let’s look at the word chart.
What immediately jumps out to you? It’s how the points don’t scale up right? The biggest bang for your buck in making longer words is from 3 letter to 4 letter words. You’ll do the most to improve your game just getting out of scoring 3 letter words.
Another thing to notice is the significant jump at 7 and 8 letter words. To get there, you’ll have to do something besides look for longer words, you’ll need to create them.
Beyond scoring, there’s another trick to the words. Have you ever thought you were out of words, even 3 letters long? Not true. The game never leaves you without a word. So another key to mastery isn’t just longer words, by accident, or intent, but learn those three and four letter words cold.
A good example are GET GUT GIT. Those words occur fairly frequently. Learn the more unusual ones with Z, V and J. Those will be your most difficult letters to rid yourself of.
The zynga team provided their own tips in the help section of the Pathwords game.
Instead of clicking the Submit button, you can click the last letter of your word again.
You can also drag the mouse to form your word. When you release the mouse button, your word will be submitted.
Be careful of how you use shuffles. The first one costs a mere 20 points, but they can get very expensive very quickly. If you don’t have enough points to pay for the next shuffle, you can’t use this feature.
Expert players will manage their letters carefully to help them form big words for huge points.
Check out your current word right underneath the board. If your current letters form a legal words, the word will be green. If not, the word will be red.
These aren’t word tips, but trust me, playing with mouse drag is the fastest way to go. I actually find this true even with the touchpad on my Mac Book Pro.
So let’s sum up.
Make longer words when possible
Create longer words on your own, be selective when you have choices
Learn the three and four letter words by heart
Focus on learning words for V, J, and Z.
There is always a word.
Let’s get playing. Be sure to friend me on Facebook and challenge me to a game of Pathwords.
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Avoid killing someone. No more than two or three attacks when you fight.
