“Writing is the only way I have to explain my own life to myself” Pat Conroy
An Homage to Bloggers
The blogging day is done
And the time has come
To finally move along
Maybe, even with a song
So let’s all keep blogging
Even while jogging
Do not believe in flopping
And around the www keep popping
“All blogs have one faithful reader at least – Google bot”
Blogging 201, Day Nine: The Buddy System
| Now, we want you to think about taking a friendship to the next level, so you’ll have that support once Blogging 201 ends. We know commitment can be scary, but it’s time.
Today’s assignment: find a blogging buddy. If appropriate, plan to publish guest posts on one another’s blogs. If you don’t see guest posters as an option for your blog, that’s totally fine. You can find a buddy to lean on for feedback and support, minus the guest posting. Why do this?
Personally, I am happy to work solo for the moment. I already feel the overwhelming support and feedback given by my fellow bloggers and followers, which helps and encourages me to do even more. Ideas I have plenty of, but time, or rather lack there of, is the enemy. Working full time and running a blog as “a second job” is filling all my spare time quite nicely and then some. Therefore, concentrating on my own blog and checking out the other sites on the side will have to do for now. If and when I am ever blogging as a full time paid blogger, then I will seriously consider hosting some events and getting even more friendly with the neighbours. And maybe I also have time to do the “buddy thing”.
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“Throwback Thursday: OMG: Throwback Thursday, I needa find a photo of myself from like hella long ago and post it on Facebook”
Throwback Thursday 2015-07-30
Today is time for a walk down memory lane again and dig into the archives from the beginning of Rantings Of A Third Kind. Here are a few of them:
“Despite the fact that no one views or cares about my blog, I will continue to spend the majority of my life updating it” Unknown
Blogging 201: Day Eight: Make Your Blog a Hub
The internet is a big playground. If you’re serious about your development as an online publisher, you need to think about opportunities beyond your blog, with your blog as your digital homestead.
Think of your site as a space to develop your online presence and personal brand strategically, promote your work in a way that makes sense for you, and connect and share your other projects and work across the web: a hub for you, as well as a place to publish posts.
Today’s assignment: create a page or section on your blog to display links to your online presence elsewhere, and make sure your other presences reflect the brand you’re developing on your blog.
Why do this?
– Because as online publishers, our work is naturally scattered across the web — you want your readers and followers to find you. Building your personal brand means expanding your reach beyond your blog while keeping it the focus.
– Because sometimes you have material that doesn’t quite fit on your site, and you want to make this complementary work accessible.
On the main page of Rantings Of A Third Kind, the social media buttons are present in several places.
Both the Instagram and Flickr feeds are shown as widgets. What is still missing, is the widget for the 500px feed, work in progress to find and add it.
On the “About” and “Biography” pages the social media links are presented in their own sections:
Those of you who have ventured to my blog and browsed about, may have noticed these few pages also:
These pages contain links where writers can find information on writing, submissions and other connection hubs. Also my profile on the Stage32 hub and the published poetry selection on Wild Sound Festival Review.
Related posts:
Blogging 201: Day Six: Dig Deep into a Social Network
Blogging 201, Day Four: Give ‘Em What They Want
Some Social Media Bullshit
“When I first came out there was no such thing as Twitter or Facebook. And the blogs! Like, what is that?” Christina Aguilera
Blogging 201: Day Seven: Make the Most of Events
When it comes to building a strong community around your blog, nothing replaces steadily publishing and commenting on others’ blogs — but that doesn’t mean you can’t help yourself (and your blog) target new audiences through blogging events, both virtual and in real life.
Today’s assignment: create a recurring blogging event on your site, and/or make plans to attend a blogging conference.
Why do this?
– Because hosting a blogging event attracts visitors beyond your immediate network of blogger friends.
– Because running an event or participating in a blogging conference helps raise your profile in the community and grow your audience.
I really appreciate the hosts put their time and effort in the shows for the blogging events. Lots of work and effort are needed to keep up with the posts, updates and what ever it entails. I, myself am currently more a part taker than a caretaker. The benefits of the events are the sense of community, valuable feedback and of course, more visibility.
As for myself being a host to any such event: If and when I am ever blogging as a full time paid blogger, then I will seriously consider hosting some events.
But, until such time, feel free to invite me to your event, I am in whether writing or photography or maybe even something different!
Current events as a part taker by Rantings Of A Third Kind:
The Clinic – Photo Rehab hosted by Lucile DeGodoy
‘CAMERA LUCIDA’ hosted by Julia
Challenge by SYLVAIN LANDRY
“Selfie”
“A rotating challenge” by invitation from Lucy Danvers from Ice Coffee Couture
FREE STYLE WRITING CHALLENGE: WHAT WOULD YOU DEFINE AS THE TURNING-POINT OF YOUR LIFE?
“The Internet destroyed most of the barriers to publication. The cost of being a publisher dropped to almost zero with two interesting immediate results: anybody can publish, and more importantly, you can publish whatever you want.” Dick Costolo
Blogging 201: Day Six: Dig Deep into a Social Network
Today’s Assignment: pick one social network you’ll use to help grow your blog. Then, outline a plan for how you’ll use it.
Why do this?
• Because blogging is about building a community, and other social networks have ready-made communities.
• Because social networks are a great place to continue tangential conversations and experiment with content. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn…where to start? A big brand might use every single one, but a big brand also has a social media department. You have the Department of You, so be selective.
I went “social media” the first day of my blog: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, 500px, LiveJournal, Tumbler, Pinterest, Google+ and LikendIn.
All the posts published are sub-posted on these sites. I am getting followers from all these sites and even feedback given through them or email. I don’t see a blog surviving without the social media, with the good and the bad which it contains. I have said it in the past and will say again: I have a love-hate relationship with the social media, but as the old adage goes: Better the Devil you know 😉
Related posts:
Blogging 201, Day Four: Give ‘Em What They Want
Some Social Media Bullshit
“Breathe. Know that the Internet has no eraser” Liz Strauss
Blogging 201: Day Five: Make the Most of Your Archives
The internet is ephemeral — you publish a post, and it sinks to the bottom of your blog before you know it. You’re competing with breaking news and dealing with short attention spans.
Readers and search engines love seeing new content on your homepage, but you can keep things even fresher by highlighting your archives: your best posts, hidden gems, and timeless content. After all, if a reader just found you, it’s all new to them.
Today’s assignment: Integrate a feature to draw traffic to your older content like a widget, related posts, or a “Best of” page.
Why do this?
• Because a go-to page compiling your best posts is the simplest way to get readers to your content — you never know which post pique someone’s interest, so make the good ones easy to find.
• Because while your About page does a great job introducing you, a curated selection of posts further illustrates your perspectives.
There are a few different ways to do this; one (or more) is bound to work for your blog.
Previously on Rantings Of A Third Kind
A page for Photography was designed
To be country specific was defined
And all the related posts to combine
The page for Daily Poem briefly existed
To pending status it was soon listed
For more than one per day a poem coexisted
And to an overwhelming task insisted
Yesterday, Throwback Thursday was introduced
Much more traffic it did produce
Not even Bruce could reduce
And it did give the creator much more juice
Gidgets, gadgets, all types of widgets
On the pages already existed
To name but a few
And give them their due
Top posts, calendar, pages and archive
Better give me the high five!
Before going live
On today’s trial
A showcase for most favourite posts
As presented by the host
Could be the thing of the week
Or maybe something else ya seek?
Related: Return to the Archives
“Throwback Thursday: OMG: Throwback Thursday, I needa find a photo of myself from like hella long ago and post it on Facebook”
Throwback Thursday 2015-07-23
Today is time for a walk down memory lane.
I started the Rantings Of A Third Kind six months ago this is the post where it all started with a two parter introduction:
A quick trip to the supermarket
A little background on the idea and the name:
“Rantings of a Third Kind” was actually invented several years back. Initially I was planning to write a book with everyday life situation gone array with a humorous twist. Now a few years later, a blog seems a good place to be!
My original idea for the blog was a humorous “rant”, with an adage and a lessons learnt included and of course accompanied by an appropriate picture. After a while, poetry took over. Then I realized photography was a big hit. Now dabbling into the world of rap and song and who knows what the future will bring!
Now, after fifty years, two distinct careers and a partridge in a pear tree, I am once more back on the writing wagon. And with force I might add. I started writing at the ripe old age of five, dabbling a play with crayons on paper and forcing my poor family to sit down and watch the show. As I recall, the name was “Santa Claus is coming”. Ever since that time, writing has been a passion of mine and I have been writing periodically and this is actually my third attempt at public writing.
I started my second passion around my tenth birthday when I obtained my first camera. It was a Coca Cola “bribe” and the brand was Kodak. It took really nice photos and I used it for several years, snapping and developing my own black and white photos.
As to my third passion… Well I guess you can call work a passion! It was before I turned twelve. First as a part time job after school and on weekends and naturally during every possible holiday I was off from school! And now over thirty years and a few degrees later, I’m getting my twenty year marker in the world of IT next year.
So there you have it, what, why, who, how and here we are!
Enjoy this first post ever on Rantings Of A Third Kind re-run:
A quick trip to the supermarket
“Only on the Internet can a person be lonely and popular at the same time” Allison Burnett
Blogging 201, Day Four: Give ‘Em What They Want
Time to take a step back. Live with the design you have for the day while we switch gears and start focusing on your content. We’re diving into stats to learn more about what your readers love.
Today’s assignment: Do a basic stats analysis to help you create an editorial calendar for the next 30 days.
Why do this? Because knowing which topics and posts are popular helps you to brainstorm new content your audience will love. Because knowing which days of the week your visitors are most likely to show up lets you plan to publish on your best days.
I have been following the statistics of my blog since day one, six months ago. Call it anal, call it interested, call it day job orientated motivation 😉 Keeping track on who, when, why is interesting. I quickly started utilizing the categories and tags for the posts. This helps on many levels; search, number or posts, statistics.
Due to working in full time employment in a completely different area means, that when I arrive back home, I start my second (albeit unpaid) job. This means all the brainstorming, writing and photographing happen between the hours of 5pm and usually 1 am, sometimes I am up until the sunrise next morning if I really have my inspiration on.
Since I am posting on daily basis now, with current setup of at least one poem and some photographs, there is no time to accumulate a backlog and vary the posting times. Luckily for me, this posting time (midnight for me) usually tends to be the busiest. Even my statistics sheet agrees!
My topics are as the blog tag line states: “Blog about everything and nothing and it’s all done in the best possible taste.” Meaning the content can be open to most every topic I can imagine. Possibly due to the simple fact, that humour plays a big role in most postings and adding photography to the mix, my followers seem to range from ages 0-100+ with all genders included. Of course it is impossible to please everyone all the time, but I do have quite a few returning visitors and I try to do the same to my followings as well.
For statistics there is one qualm I have: those people who are not part of the WordPress community, cannot press the “LIKE” button. My followers by email only, exceed by two thirds the number of followers in the community. This also means I don’t get feedback from the email followers, unless they write me email or respond in the other social media forums.
“What you do after you create your content is what truly counts” Gary Waynerhuk
Blogging 201: Day Three: Get Read All Over
Today’s assignment: Make sure your site is mobile-friendly, and familiarize yourself with the features of responsive design.
Why? Because a responsive website looks great on all screen sizes, from computer to tablet to phone. Because there are mobile tools built in to WordPress.com — there’s no need to know web development to have a mobile-friendly site.
I have been using the WordPress application on both Samsung and Iphone for a while. Not really for writing, but reading and follow up. I don’t recommend typing on the small device for a lengthy time. Posting on them, especially picture related topics can be tricky, as it sometimes is even with a proper computer 😉 But I did manage to write a poem on the phone yesterday at lunch with the “one finger method”. Editing happened later on the “real” deal.
I have showcased my blog on several occasions on the phone application and the look and feel is right for such a device as well. The theme and widgets flow nicely even on a smaller screen. Best test to prove the point is to take a complete novice to both smart phones and the world of blogging. After a few minutes with application install and demo on how the blog works, they got the hang of it and are now regular followers 😉
Having a background in web design and code, I usually test with the pages on several browsers and types of screens. With the Visual Theme, I have finally realized the looks of my personal blog. Suits me, got a few compliments and fits to various screens!
Rantings Of A Third Kind 