Upgrade
July 27th, 2008Upgrade
Or Die Trying
Looks like WordPress version 2.6 has been released. As always, I’ll feel obligated to upgrade now.
Usually this isn’t a big deal. I’ve got many blogs based on WordPress software, and over the years have become somewhat of an expert with it.
But, that doesn’t mean that bad things never happen.
In fact, that doesn’t even mean that bad things haven’t happened to me.
The problem is, usually, lack of planning for the backout if things go wrong. After all, what would be the fun in that? I much prefer to just go aheard, fire up the upgrade script, and hope for the best.
In other words, if this blog happens to disapper sometime in the next week or so, don’t be alarmed. I’ll fix it…
Bloggaddiction
May 22nd, 2008Bloggaddiction
Or, Bloggaholic?
Blogging can be amazingly addictive. I’m not sure that’s really a bad thing. Rather, I’m merely making an observation. I just wish there were more hours in the day so that I could write as much as I’d like to.
At this point, I can think of a new domain name, buy it, configure the DNS with my web host, add a new MySQL database, install WordPress and customize the theme all in less than an hour. In fact, everything prior to customizing the theme can be done in about 10 minutes.
This is the part that makes it so addictive.
Every new thought, new idea, or new interest can become an entirely separate blog in virtually no time at all. I’ve got about ten different blogs at the moment, with a couple that haven’t been updated recently – but the rest are all updated regularly. This weekend, I will be adding two new ones.
I guess there could be worse things to be addicted too…
Wanted To Buy
April 21st, 2008Wanted To Buy
Open Call For Blogs
Sebral Network, the parent of Blog About Nothing, is currently expanding and has an immediate need to add several established blogs to our portfolio.
If you own a blog and have lost the desire to continue operating it, please contact us (sales@sebral.net) with all applicable information and the asking price.
At this time, we are only interested in blog meeting the following criteria:
- PR 2 or above.
- Self-hosted domain (no Blogger, etc.), and the sale price must include transfer of domain ownership to Sebral Network.
- Must contain original content. Rights to content will be transferred to Sebral Network upon completion of sale.
- Controversial topics OK, but no pornography.
- Please include traffic history/trends and Adsense data (if applicable).
Feel free to contact us with questions (sales@sebral.net).
The Grammar Nazi
April 7th, 2008The Grammar Nazi
English 101
I’ve been visiting a lot of blogs lately. Most of the visits are related to research for a project I’m working on, but some are just for personal interest. It has been a painful experience.
Bloggers, please, learn proper grammar, spelling, and writing techniques before posting anything for the general public.
Having access to a keyboard and an online website or blog does not automatically make you a writer. However, with a little effort, you can at least tell a coherent story. You may have an incredible story to tell, but your readers are not going to attempt to decipher your cryptic, misspelled, words and sentences filled with improper punctuation.
Without exaggeration, the majority of the blogs I have visited read like they were written by third graders. Speaking as someone with great appreciation of language and writing, I honestly hope this is due to sloppy laziness. Otherwise, we are witnessing a heartbreaking unraveling of the intellectual fabric of modern society.
Laziness I can understand. And, typos happen. Occasionally, even the most analytical proofreader will let a silly error slip through. These are not the people I’m writing about.
None of us are as perfect as we’d like to be. But, can you at least make an effort?
For the record, the few blogs that I deem worthy of linking to from Blog About Nothing have all passed my anal retentive Grammar Nazi quality assurance test. I encourage you to visit them.
WordPress v2.5 Revisited
April 5th, 2008WordPress v2.5 Revisited
The Final Word
I’ve had several other WordPress bloggers ask me if the upgrade to version 2.5 is still working well – after the initial problem with the missing MySQL index.
For anyone that might be interested, the answer is yes. WordPress v2.5 continues to impress me, and there have been no additional problems on any of my blogs.
Using the usual standard precautions – always be prepared for the worst – I do recommend this version to anyone that wants to keep their WordPress blog software up-to-date. There are many improvements, most evident in the Admin Dashboard, that make it well worth the upgrade.
WordPress 2.5 Update
March 31st, 2008WordPress 2.5 Update
A Little Speedbump
The upgrade to WordPress 2.5 wasn’t quite as painless as it originally appeared. Late last night I realized that the comment moderation page in the admin dashboard was not working. It would say “4 new comments”, but would display them.
After troubleshooing this for a couple hours last night, and then several more today, I found that the comment_date_gmt column in the wp_comments MySQL database table was missing the index. Once I added an index (drop and create) to that column, everything was fine.
So, I’m back to lovin’ WordPress 2.5. Once again, it’s all good.
Why Your Blog Will Fail
March 30th, 2008Why Your Blog Will Fail
Downloadable?
I’ve recieved email from two visitors asking if there was a way they could download all five parts of the “Why Your Blog Will Fail” series for offline viewing.
I hadn’t really thought about doing that previously, but I will combine the parts and make it available as a single file for anyone that wants it.
There will be an updated post here when it’s ready.
WordPress Upgrade
March 30th, 2008WordPress Upgrade
Version 2.5
Blog About Nothing has been upgraded to WordPress v2.5 and so far, everything is great.
Version 2.5 was released yesterday and I upgraded this blog, as well as several others, shortly after the new version was released. No problems with the upgrade, and there are some cool new admin features.
If you’re running WordPress, you should take a look at this upgrade.
Why Your Blog Will Fail – Part V
March 28th, 2008Why Your Blog Will Fail
Part V
Final Destination
(Fifth and final of the five part Why You Blog Will Fail series. Click here for the previous part).
Hopefully you’ve already read Parts I – IV of this series. If not, you might want to go back and do so.
This segment will actually focus a bit less on why your blog will fail, or hopefully why your blog will NOT fail if you’ve followed the previous suggestions. Instead, we’re fast forwarding ahead in time a bit, to discuss the final destination of your blog.
Unless your blog is clearly a runaway success – possibly revealed by visitors, Google PageRank, Technorati links, Alexa rank, etc. – there will come a point where you will need to answer the question, “Did my blog fail?”.
If you’re blog is a runaway success, congratulations. You’ve done a lot of things right, and have probably learned quite a bit from the things you didn’t so quite so right.
If not, you will first need to define your measure of “success”.
Maybe your goal is to have a lot of visitors, or a lot of comments (these do not always go hand-in-hand by the way), or to make friends in the blog community. Your goal may have been to simply get all of your poetry online to share with the world, rather than publishing it in a book. Or, your goal might be to make a living from blogging.
Whatever you define as “success”, remember that you are the only one that will be able to declare that definition for your specific blog.
If at this point, despite all of your effort to avoid it, you feel that your blog has failed, then it’s most likely time to move on. You have a few options – you could just delete the entire blog, you could give it to someone, or you could reinvent it and try again.
It’s also possible that blogging, or writing in general, just isn’t for you. A lot of people buy a guitar in hopes of being a rock star, but quickly realize that playing a guitar is actually quite difficult, and without the passion for it, there will be no success. Blogging is no different.
And, that’s OK. Nobody is good at everything. Just because blogging may appear easy from the outside looking in, doesn’t mean that it is.
However, if you have reached that level which you’ve defined as success, then you should now look for ways to monetize your blog – that is, earn some money from it. You don’t need to think big necessarily, and money might very well not be your goal. But, if you can even earn enough to cover your web hosting, or your Internet connection, with very little effort, then allow the successful blog that you’ve created to pay for itself. You never know, many wealthy people began to amass their fortune quite by accident, just following their passion.
For those of you that have developed the successful blog, your journey is really just now beginning. If you haven’t already discovered this, you are about to. Successful blogging is very addictive. If you can create one blog and nurture it to success, then why not another blog about a different topic?
The answer is – there is no reason why you can’t. In fact, you will find that creating additional blogs is incredibly easy after you’ve become successful with your first one. That’s both the gift and the curse of blogging, because there just aren’t enough hours in the day to maintain all of the blogs that you potentially have ideas for. Be selective, and be successful.
No matter your goals with your blog, good luck with it. If you enjoy blogging as much as many of us do, you’ll soon find yourself ruling over a small army of blogs.
Why Your Blog Will Fail – Part IV
March 27th, 2008Why Your Blog Will Fail
Part IV
Control Your Destiny
(Fourth of the five part Why You Blog Will Fail series. Click here for the previous part).
We’ve identified many points that can cause your blog to fail. But, how can they be avoided? How can you take control of your blog’s destiny?
Following are five points that all bloggers should keep in mind when they’re writing, especially when they begin feeling less-motivated.
Advance Writing
Most writers, blog writers included, find their creativity comes in cycles. They will go through periods of great productivity, with tons of ideas, and the words just flow through to the keyboard. This is followed by times of distraction, lack of motivation, or just plain writer’s block.
To help make sure that your blog will survive the latter, the blogger should always try to complete as much advance writing as possible when the creativity levels are high. Just save those posts and use them as backups.
Of course, these posts need to be more generic in nature, so rule out current events. Write about any general subject that would be a natural fit within your blog.
Mix It Up
Whether you write a general interest, niche, or personal blog, mix up the content. Even a serious blog about investing or the funeral industry, for example, has room for a variety of moods in the content. Not all posts should be serious. Not only will it bore the reader, it will bore the blogger.
Likewise, even a humor-centric blog has room for serious issues. Just don’t let them become the focus of the blog, or allow them to divert from the humor.
No matter what the main blog theme may be, mix it up.
Change It Up
Are you, as a blogger, losing your motivation? Have you already posted all of the posts written in advance? Maybe it’s time to change it up.
Try a new theme on your blog, or apply other cosmetic changes. Often times this will spark some new creativity and help the blogger become interested in writing new content again.
Even simple things, like some new categories for example, can give the blogger additional freedom to write, covering new topics or new ideas.
Downtime
All writers need downtime. As mentioned previously, blogging is stressful and demanding. Taking a bit of time away from it to recharge your brain will allow the creative thoughts to return.
Just be sure to let your readers know that you’ll be away for a bit. And, if at all possible, let them know when you’ll be returning. Even better, if it’s possible, consider having a guest blogger fill in while you’re away.
Visit Other Blogs
Try to visit other blogs as much as possible. You will not only get some great ideas while reading good blogs, but you’ll see just how bad others are, and realize how wonderful the work you’ve been doing really is.
Be sure to leave comments on the blogs you visit, even the not-so-great ones. Those links back are priceless.
Up Next: Why Your Blog Will Fail, Part V – Final Destination
