(Reading time: 6 – 9 minutes)
It’s been a good week. 3 superb guest posts by two superb authors. And once again, hard to believe how fast it all goes screaming by. Halloween is almost here!
News
This week saw 3 guest posts. One by Larry Herrin of New Palm Pre, and two from Sean “Deacon” Neprud of Bad Deacon Design. Larry’s had his in the works for a while, since late summer. Sean was just at Blog World Expo. That counts as “news” so both his posts needed to go up right away.
There’s more guest posts in the works, including a contribution from Gabe Young of Free Blog Help dot Com. Website In A Weekend is making Monday the regular guest post day. If you’re interested, drop me a line.
From around the web…
WIAW reader Holly J really raises the bar for review posts. Holly is a writer, so pay attention to how she presents the information in her review article, especially how she handles outbound linking. I read Holly’s stuff and I feel strangely inadequate. You should too.
How does DiTesco do it with that Weekly Echo? All those banners! I would gouge my eyes out trying to keep all those images straight, and would probably mess it up anyway. Have Extreme John pointing at Jena Isle (you have no idea how much temptation I just overcame… I should a get medal or something).
The Double Mule speaks on The Full Price of Free. Having given away software for years and years now, I can speak with authority on this issue of free myself: free software (free anything) is simply a gambit for establishing a relationship. Yes, in some sense it’s “poisoning the well.” But when there’s no other way to get to the well, well, people do what they have to. The mules are quite correct though: ultimately, nothing comes for free. Somebody has to pay.
Is feeling sorry for yourself your part time career? Me too, sometimes. Which is stupid! Freelancer tears it up with “10 Reasons Why That Other Writer Always Seems to Get Ahead” Suck it up and get on with it.
Ever heard of Ali Brown? Me neither, until her interview on Andrew Warner’s Mixergy. We’ll be hearing more from Ali in the future. Keep an eye on her, she’s going places. Keep an eye on Andrew and Mixergy too, lightning does strike twice.
Musicians practice scales. Writers practice checklists. No matter how accomplished a writer, you need to check and recheck yourself against the basics at regular intervals. Here’s a great check list for self-editing. Note: I sell will be selling a similar list targeted specifically to bloggers in the near future. Watch for it. You’ve been warned.
New posts
- Who The Heck Are You? Get a Gravatar!: Gravatars put faces on your blog, your comments, and help people around the world recognize you instantly. Don’t have one yet? Read how you’re missing out.
- Quick Tip: Add Existing Code as New Project in Aptana Studio: Here’s a really fast list for getting your existing source code into Aptana Studio as a project. Learn when to “import” and when to “Add New.”
- Top 10 Reasons why WordPress is the Future of the Internet: WordPress is just about ready to rule the internet. Here’s 10 reasons why you should use WordPress for your next small business (or personal) website.
- Blog World Expo Recap: Blogging Success Requires Passion and a Lot of Writing: Do you have what it takes to be Pro Blogger? Passion isn’t quite enough… find out 3 more keys to success in this report from Blog World Expo.
- Blog World Expo Recap: 8 Proven Monetization Strategies For Media Producers: Wanna make money blogging & don’t know how? Here’s 8 ways proven by 6 figure probloggers to just Kill It on the internet. You need to know these tricks – now.
- Practical WordPress Tip #17: Use the tail of your Drafts queue for “notes”: Using WordPress for content management requires smart thinking. Here’s a way to keep track of your raw material, without getting in your way. You save time.
- 7 Ways To Evaluate Blog Post Quality — Tuning your BS detector: You need to know fast if a blog post is worth reading. These 7 practically foolproof indicators of bogosity save you time and trouble. Don’t be fooled again!
Updated posts
From the Department of Extreme Irony… the SEO description and subtitle for Writing Effective Teasers: Inspiring people to [Read more...] are lame lame lame! I was going to list it as this weeks featured article from the archives, and noticed that the article didn’t actually demonstrate the subject matter. How embarrassing.
In any case, the article still needs a little work, but it’s at least worth reading now. Suggestions for improvement definitely welcome, leave a comment.
From the Archives!
Each week, we’ll showcase a great post buried down in the archives, useful material you can use right away. This week, take a look at Factors Contributing to Blog Success. I wrote this back when writing was “hard,” and I was only posting maybe 1-2 times per week. But it’s a good article, the material is valid, and if I’m really inspired one day, I’ll update it. Let me know what you think.
Upcoming
“So, what’s on the agenda there, Dr WordPress?”
Well. Look for Frank Kern tomorrow. Monday, I have a very rare rant scheduled (or, possibly a surprise, but that’s not settled yet). The rest of the week is up in the air! I see some likely candidates, one of which is debugging plugins with FirePHP… the rest, you’ll have to wait and see.
The Week In Review Series
- Last WIAW Week in Review
- WIAW Week in Review: October 10 – October 16, 2009. Joh Kohlbach offers up a Gotcha! Burning Man decompression… it’s that time again, the Website In A Weekend Week in Review. (Must read article on Subtitles.)
- Put Your Pity Party Week in Review. You feelin’ sorry for yourself? Sorry to hear it, and we’re here to help. Check out the blind boy who uses echo location. Inspiring. More good stuff inside.
Next WIAW Week in Review
Oh yeah… Holly from Houston and DiTesco from Portugal both write absolutely killer weekly reviews.
Who The Heck Are You? Get a Gravatar!
(Reading time: 2 – 4 minutes)
These words resound in my head, bringing back glorious days of screaming around the hills west of Bloomington, Indiana in a 1977 Buick Century Regal blasting FM radio. The Who was big that year. Good times. Sounded a little like this:
Oh wait.
That was actually Heart in ’77. Barracuda. This Who album hadn’t been released yet. Darn. But you should never let the facts interfere with a good story, &c.
The glory days… I hear everyone under 41 retching. Rest assured, I’ll be back to Ambient, Deep House and Down Tempo shortly.
So, who are you? Why don’t you leave a link? How about your Gravatar? Don’t have a gravatar? Well that’s no darn good at all!
Gravatar!
Gravatars have now become Important. I believe a good gravatar image will actually help drive traffic your way. It certainly can’t hurt.
From the Gravatar.com website:
Getting a gravatar is really easy: just register an email address for each different gravatar you desire to use. If you don’t have one yet, you should go get one right now at gravatar.com.
But don’t take my word for it, read more about the benefits of having your own gravatar:
Good stuff.
Bonus Benefit: When your comments get caught in my Spam queue, like CommentLuv’s Andy Baily’s, and Elmot’s did recently, I’ll be able to see your smiling face and fish you out.