Random Thoughts- Do They Have Meaning?: Blogging

Showing posts with label Blogging. Show all posts

Join Me

I am on a quest to change my life and that is why I am reaching out to you. I am an almost 42 year-old man who wants to be more than he is now. I am a dreamer who believes that he can turn his dreams into reality and spends time daily working on that plan.

It is no secret, I want to be a writer. Let me clarify that, I am a writer now who gets paid for freelance work. I want to crank it up about 10 notches so that writing becomes my full time job. I want to put myself in a position where I can write that screenplay you hear me talk about. I want to turn my Fragments of Fiction into a book.

There are stories inside my head that can't remain trapped in the emptiness between my ears.

I am going to do this. I am going to write the stories and the screenplay. I am going to do it regardless of whether I hit that place where I earn enough to make writing my profession and not a hobby. I am not waiting for hope to transform itself into something other than what it is.

That is not a smart way of doing things. I am doing what I can to take control of my destiny which is why I ask you to join me. Join my Facebook Fan club page for my new blog TheJackB and you can help me get that much closer to where I want to be.

If you like my writing tell your friends about it. If you don't like my writing tell your enemies. I don't care who just tell someone. I am not hiding my intentions or trying to mislead anyone.

I ask for your help because I believe that more exposure can only help me. I won't bribe you with promises that I can't uphold. But I will promise to do what I can to help you.

The way I figure it, there is no harm in asking.

Building The Blog- Writing With Reckless Abandon

It has been almost a month since TheJackB set sail and we have enjoyed more than a few adventures together. Not unlike most new relationships we have had a few missteps that have been caused by poor communication or simple misunderstanding. We don't always recognize the signs that the other is giving off, but I have no fear for the long term because we're working on it.

Every day we take a few minutes to share our thoughts and ideas about where things are at and where we hope they will go. As we grow more comfortable together I have introduced some new toys and tools that I think will help this relationship grow. Slowly I have begun to really let loose and the words are beginning to flow as if the tap has torn wide open.

It feels good to write this way and I am confident that it is going to lead me to where it is I want to go. There have been moments where I have felt like TheJackB was hesitant but I have insisted that submission doesn't mean that there is a lack of equality at all. It is really a natural progression for us and as acceptance grows I feel our combined strength filling us with power and confidence.

In the coming weeks I hope to see us hit our stride and anticipate that it will yield significant benefits. It is not always easy for me to be patient. I have thoughts, ideas and feelings that cry out for attention. It sounds a little bit silly to describe as being so childlike, but the reality is what it is.

Regardless I am eagerly awaiting the future because from where I stand it looks quite bright.

A Sneak Preview

I have been teasing you with rumors and words of the new blog for some time now. The purpose has been to hopefully gain your attention and interest so that you'll want to go check it out. But it has also been sort of a long goodbye to this place.

Yes, this joint right here holds a special place in my heart. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it has borne witness to my greatest joy and deepest sorrow. It is where I rediscovered many things about myself. A place of learning and introspection. It has served as a vehicle for new friendships and at time been wielded as a cyber sword.

My first home and headquarters online it hasn't easy to decide to move to the new place. Truthfully I should I have done it a long time ago but didn't for a variety of reasons. In part it is because Blogger introduced a number of features that made it seem less important to move.

For a while I considered hanging up my keyboard and starting over fresh. The idea was to not let anyone know that I had moved. I wanted to see how much I had learned about blogging. I was curious to test my skills and see how fast I could build the new blog without any help.

I chose not to do that for a variety of reasons some of them business related and some of them were...just because.

Anyway, I am still dusting off the shelves and making some changes at my new home and have decided that it is clean enough to show off. So my friends if you are reading this post I invite you to visit my new home online. You can find it right here.

Add it to your reader, blogrolls, and fan it on Facebook if you so desire.

For a bit longer I will keep things going here- but you should expect that most of the time any posts that are put up here will also be at the new house.

Thank you for your time. I appreciate you more than you realize. I am still surprised that people take the time to read what I have to say, but thankful for it.

Building The Blog- Never Say This To Me

"I want to swim away but don't know how
Sometimes it feels just like I'm falling in the ocean
Let the waves up take me down
Let the hurricane set in motion, yeah
Let the rain of what I feel right now, come down
Let the rain come down"

When I realized that I have begun to dislike every picture I see of me it became apparent that it was time to make changes. Not a change, but changes because the reality is that the reasons that I grew to be unhappy with the pictures made it impossible to limit it to one.

The funny in a not so funny thing here is that this isn't because I don't like the way I look physically. I am not thrilled by my appearance, but some of that is due an unwillingness to accept that I am not 25 anymore. In fact regular visits to the gym have made a significant difference in my appearance. I feel stronger than I have in quite some time so that pleases me.

What doesn't please me is the look in my eyes. Unless you know me really well you won't see or recognize it. The anger and frustration- the lack of satisfaction and fulfillment are so obvious to me. The only reason that you have any inkling is because of the words that I share here. You don't see how I have withdrawn into a cave and pushed people away.

"As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way." Ralph Waldo Emerson

I know who is preventing my success and he is me. Yep, old Jack is the reason why he is not living the life he wants. That is not say that I have a particularly bad life because I don't. I have a lot to be thankful for and I am. I am also aware of my predilection for being hard on myself. Some of the challenges I face are things that have nothing to do with me or were outside of my control. Yet, it doesn't matter because I still beat my chest and wonder if there isn't something that I should have seen or done.

That last line is troublesome because I find myself walking the tightrope of responsibility. It is bootless and useless to beat myself up about what I could have done because...I didn't. And as I said in some cases it wouldn't matter because the situations were never under my control so it is reasonable to relax a little. That makes sense to me and I am working on it. But that tightrope of responsibility says that while I can ease off I must also accept a portion of accountability.

Although if I abide by the rules of the blog I need to continue to peel away the layers and ask for forgiveness. It is not from you or from anyone you know, but from me. I need to forgive myself for not being smarter, better, stronger etc. I am not good at it, but I am working on it.

"An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory."Ralph Waldo Emerson

Old Ralph Waldo was a very sharp man, far more than I gave him credit for. Of course my first exposure to him was when I was in the 9th grade and I didn't know a damn thing then. The problem of course is that I thought that I did and consequently created more issues for myself. Back in the day we might have called it Schlattered, eh Shmata Queen.

Anyway, the point of the second quote is that there is a time for words and a time for action. Back during the early days of the space race scientists thought that they knew what would happen if they sent man up into the outer reaches of the wild blue yonder. They were pretty sure that their theories would pan out and the guys in the flying tin cans would come back safe and sound. So they stuck these men in suits, stuffed them into cans and attached them to big rockets that flew into space.

And as we know most of the time it worked- they went up and came back down in one piece. Action proved theory to be correct. But bringing it back to the egocentric ramblings of your author it means that if I want to make changes I can't spend years thinking about them. It means that it is better to move sooner than later. And that my friends has been a bit of a bear for me, I am slow to change and to make change. I have been prone to stay in my comfort zone.

"Always do what you are afraid to do." Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson is dead on with this one. It is something that I know from experience is worth doing. Because even though I may be reluctant to make changes I have done so on many occasions. In some cases I have made more radical changes even though my I was truly uncertain. Quite often I have found that this has led to very good things and has helped me to avoid over thinking.

This is all tied into why I am going to leave Blogger behind and adopt Wordpress on a full time basis. It is also why I am not going wait much longer to unveil the new blog. While it would be nice to have the luxury of waiting until it is perfect I don't think that will be smart or useful.

I don't need it to look like I have a crack team of designers and programmers working for me. There aren't any Application Engineers on the payroll, at least not yet. 2011 has just started, I need to save some goals for down the road.

Building The Blog- What's In A Name Edition

Excuse me while I wax rhapsodic and chase my tail around this cyberspace cage I find myself sitting in. Old Jack wishes to break free of the fetters that currently bind him. The man can't stand being shackled, just can't take being trapped in a cage. He was born free, cue guitar and deeply moving song as he stares soulfully into the distance.

Ok, I can't go that route because the dear Shmata Queen who probably won't read this hates when the womenfolk pretend I am Tom Jones and start throwing cyber panties at me. You hear that, crazy Texan who used to live in cleveland. Yes, I am talking bout you and there is not a damn thing that you can do about it.

Those last two paragraphs my friends are the perfect example of your gracious host using an old trick to stave off Writer's Block.Yes, it is true even I sometimes suffer from that dread disease but when it happens I make a point of distracting myself. More often than not I open my eyes and discover that my muse has returned.

So I am working steadily on building the new blog and have developed a long list of wants, needs and desires. At the top of the list is a question, should the new blog be given a new name? It is a good question because the truth is that Random Thoughts- Do They Have Meaning is a lousy name.

If you are one of the 17 long time readers you know that I didn't intend to be a blogger. I just threw this place together and started writing on a whim. It wasn't something that I put any thought into. Surely I have enough creativity to come up with something better than Random Thoughts- Do They Have Meaning.

Ideally the blog name would correspond with a kick ass logo and be integrated into a great design with amazing content. At the moment I'd love to use Grumpy from the seven dwarves, but I have no need to fight with Disney about licensing because I am not going to waste any time trying to license his likeness.

But I have to acknowledge that I have turned the Random Thoughts blog into something. There is brand awareness that has been built around that and good old me, Mr. Jack. It wouldn't be completely ridiculous to keep the name and just move the shop. That kind of thing happens all the time. Businesses grow and they are forced to move to a bigger and or better location.

So dear reader there you have one of the many questions that I ask myself daily. Is it earth shattering, life threatening or anything that will change the world? Probably not. But then again, maybe it is. Maybe this will be like the butterfly effect. Maybe moving this blog to Wordpress will lead to something amazing, incredible and rewarding. And boy doesn't that amazing, incredible and rewarding thing sound good. So good that I would settle for one out of three. But just in case anyone asks I prefer not to settle.

Anyhoo, I must get some sleep so that I can prepare my incredible, amazing, rewarding and powerful end of the year review. You know, it is that annual post where I talk about how good/bad the year was and tell you that you should read every post I wrote because they are like my children and I don't play favorites.

And on the off chance that you happen to be a crazy Texan from cleveland- there are things to be said, words to be shared and sooner or later I will pepper your pike.;)

How Personal Should A Blog Be?

Almost four years ago I spent a few minutes writing the post below. It was about blogging and what sort of boundaries should or should not be included. I remember seriously considering hanging up my keyboard as I wasn't sure that I had anything left to say or share.

Obviously I didn't do that and am very pleased that I didn't. Some of the thoughts and issues still remain which I suppose begs the question of whether I "learned" anything from the initial run. Or maybe these are things that will always be of concern for me.

I sit here at a desk that has a couple of piles of papers on it. The stack on my left are bills that need to be paid and the stack on the right are those that need to be filed. To my left is a blue couch that beckons to me. I can hear its siren song gently urging me to collapse upon it in blissful couch potato land.

I refuse to give in. My mind is still too active to try and shut down so I choose to stay here where I can try and sort through the chaotic cacophony that lives inside my noggin. During my brief time blogging I have enjoyed using this as a therapeutic tool.

It is the place where I air out my thoughts and consider what my true feelings are. The name was intentional. I didn't want to pigeonhole myself into being one kind of blog. In the beginning I really didn't have any idea what this blog would mean to me and I certainly never expected that anyone would take the time to read the things I write.

In fact the lack of interaction in the beginning probably made it easier for me to really vent. I opened up and typed out things that were/are incredibly personal. In general I don't expose myself like this. It is not my thing.

But, I did. Not just once or twice but on many occasions. I wrote about crying, the death of a grandparent, a friend and some other personal events.

It felt good to get it out. It felt cathartic and I was glad to have the opportunity. And then things changed a bit.

I was outed. My blog was discovered and people tried to use it against me. They tried to use the things that I shared to hurt me. They read my words and looked to attack me where they saw my vulnerabilities.

It was an unpleasant experience. I am not the first blogger to have this experience nor will I be the last, but that doesn't change the bitter taste it left in my mouth. I felt violated. It may sound silly to you. This is a public place, but I chose anonymity intentionally. I had always wanted the choice over disclosing who I am.

And in the interest of full disclosure let me say that I have been participating in various online forums for a good nine or ten years now. It was my experience there that led me to choose anonymity.

I am not trying to paint myself to be a victim. I have always given as good I have gotten and in some cases I may have given more than my fair share of internet chatter.

All I know is that a while back something broke inside me. Some of my love for the medium was taken away. Some of my desire was destroyed and I am not sure if it will ever come back. Now I find myself checking myself. Now I notice that I censor things in a way that I never used to.

I suppose what I am really saying is that I miss the freedom of expression I used to feel. I miss that naive feeling I had. It is like Adam and Eve suddenly noticing their nakedness. I never used to notice it.

Now when I look back at some of the old stuff I cringe. I haven't removed any of it. I don't have any immediate plans to do so, but you never know what the future holds.

That is it for now. See you around.

Wii Party Like Bad Bad Leroy Brown

"Well the south side of Chicago
Is the baddest part of town
And if you go down there you better just beware
Of a man named Leroy Brown"

Sunday was what you could call a watershed day for the blog. You see for the past 6.5 years of my blogging career I have ignored opportunities to try and court brands. I have ignored the PR pitches that have come through. With the exception of the WebAds banners that have been running here I have done nothing to monetize this place.

I write because I love to write. I write because it is a big part of how I vent. I write because words help define Jack. Don't you just love it when people refer to themselves in the third person.

Don't ask me to tell you why I didn't push for monetizing this joint sooner. The answer is a simple because I didn't and because I was irritated by the way a lot of other bloggers did it. I looked down my nose at them and sneered because I thought that they were unprofessional and that they cheapened it all. Read through the archives and you'll find my thoughts.

Anyway, to quote my grandfather, there comes a revolution. And in this case the revolutionaries convinced me that there wasn't any reason not to be open to working with brands and agencies. In what you could term a great coincidence around the same time I decided to open things up I was asked to become a brand ambassador for Nintendo.

And that my friends is how I found myself hosting a bunch of friends at a Nintendo Wii Party at the 'W' Hotel in Hollywood. Cosponsored by the American Heart Association the gang and I spent time playing Wii Sports Resort and using the Wii Fit Plus.

Did I mention that I was excited to have the chance to play these games with adults. It wasn't because I lack for adult conversation but because the damn kids have been kicking my ass. I figured that the big kids would be like me, just semi proficient. Imagine my surprise when I got my butt kicked by a 38 year-old ringer.

We were playing Wii Sports Resort and engaged in a duel. I sincerely hope that no one taped it because if they did you will see the two of us swinging wildly at the screen, not to mention that some guy who looks like me kept making that light saber noise and talking about the Dark Side of the Force.

Anyhoo, we took a break for lunch and listened to Hank Wasiak talk about Asset Based Thinking and followed up with a panel that included a dietitian and cardiologist.

Go to Hank's site and spend a few minutes reading about him. He is an interesting guy. The cardiologist and dietitian were solid. I appreciated what they had to say, but frankly I knew everything that they spoke about. In a different life your old friend Jack taught CPR and First Aid so I had some need to know a little bit about health and the heart.

But I also am well versed in this because of my father's heart attack and the impact it had upon me as a son and a father. It is a very personal reminder that I need to be aware of my own mortality and my health. I have been good about exercising regularly and lousy at dieting.

The talk at the 'W' was a reminder that I need to focus a little bit harder on my diet. And the laughter that was generated from screwing around with the boys on a Wii was a reminder that I like playing Wii with my kids. It is not as good as getting outside on the bikes or running with them on the soccer field. I don't see it as a substitute for "real" exercise.

Nor can I say that boxing on the Wii will teach you how to survive an encounter with Bad Bad Leroy Brown either. However it is a good supplement. It is possible to work up a sweat and it does offer teaching moments.

More importantly is that it provides the opportunity to play a game with the kids, family moments. And that is something that I can always get behind.

DISCLOSURE: As part of my role as Brand Ambassador. Nintendo provided me with a Wii Fit Plus kit and the Sports Resort game.

5 Secrets of Great Bloggers

Here are 5 Secrets that Great Bloggers use every day. They're important enough that you could build a single post around each one individually.

Write a picture with your words. Build sights, sounds and imagery that capture your reader's attention.
Build a relationship with your readers. Provide content that they can relate and connect to.
Be reliable. You don't have to hit a home run with every post but you need show up consistently.
Be authentic, be open and be real. Show your readers that a real person is behind your content.
Respond to comments on your blog and visit your readers. In other words, engage and interact with them.

When Bloggers Bully

The fastest way to make friends and enemies in blogging is remarkably simple. All you need to do is create and publish a list called “Best” or “Most Popular” and you are guaranteed to be praised and criticized for your wisdom and or tunnel vision. The interesting thing about it is that it doesn’t matter whether you are an expert in a particular field or the most popular blogger in your niche because you will make waves.

You can blame it on human nature or spin it any way you want to because the truth is that with few exceptions most bloggers want to be praised for their work. Most want to have millions of readers and comment sections that are overflowing with discussions about the most recent posts.

None of this should be seen as being exceptionally profound or insightful because it doesn’t take a P.H.D. to point out that politics, popularity contests and jealousy rear their heads in the blogosphere with the same frequency as they do everywhere else in life.

However, the thing that is different about the blogosphere is that the lack of face-to-face contact provides a fertile ground for bad behavior. When you don’t have to look someone in the eye it is really easy to write a post or posts in which you lambaste them. When you don’t worry about seeing someone at the office, grocery store or school yard it can feel like you have a license to impugn their character and make nasty comments about their person, looks, blog and or integrity.

Still, that is just a prelude to one of the more significant issues that comes along with blogging…bullies. Yes, the scourge of the schoolyard has somehow managed to find his/her way into the blogosphere. It is a sad but true story about how sometimes a lack of accountability morphs into a very ugly atmosphere.

It really shouldn’t be surprising to learn that there are bloggers who engage in bullying because the sad reality is that bullying is a trait/characteristic that is all too human in nature.

But what distinguishes the bloggers who bully from the kid on the schoolyard is their reach. A popular blogger has a reach that the schoolyard bully can only dream of.

A popular blogger can literally unleash a horde of angry people upon your and or your business.

If you are a comic book geek like me you have heard the expression that with great power comes great responsibility more times than you can count. That has never been truer than in regard to the popular bloggers. It is not just because of the number of people that they influence but because what is published online lives on in perpetuity.

Spend a little time reading parenting blogs and you will find numerous posts that discuss educating our children about this topic and why it is so very important to be careful about what we publish. It is because the Internet is unforgiving. If you find a way to act like fool or an ignorant jackass you might be privileged to share the moment again with your great grandchildren.

Another danger that stems from the popular bloggers influence is that their bullying isn’t always seen for what it is. The written word is very different from the spoken. Without verbal clues it becomes harder to discern sarcasm or attempts at humor. It is also different because those who are less technologically savvy may not always recognize just how many people are participating in the free for all.

In person it is much easier to gauge how many people are participating in a particular activity. On the school yard you can see when it is one versus many- but that same clarity isn’t so obvious online.

But that doesn’t lessen the sting of the words or the bite of the consequences. There is no mitigating factor here. You don’t get to say that you didn’t know or you didn’t mean it. That assumes that one day you feel badly about your actions and decide that you wish to apologize for them.

The best advice that I can provide for any blogger is the same thing that I tell my children. Do your best to treat others the way that you want to be treated and try to remember that good intentions can sometimes go bad. Sometimes the best thing you can do is say you are sorry and move on. Because when the lights go out and you are left alone with your thoughts your conscience will always let you know whether you did right or wrong.

Must Blogging Have a Purpose

(Two years later I still ask some of the same questions)

About once a week I come across in article that offers stats that are supposed to show that blogging is so common that it is uncommon for people not to have one. My experience doesn't support that premise. I know very few people that have blogs or at least very few that admit to it.

As a point of clarification let me say that I am referring to people I knew prior to beginning my blogging career. With the exception of two people on the blogroll I really didn't know anyone who was blogging until after I leapt into the blogosphere.

The wild and woolly blogosphere who has finally gained acceptance as a medium that can affect public opinion. One of the great social equalizers. Here in the blogospheres looks and money are far less important than the real world. Here in the blogosphere anyone and everyone can become an internet hero and leverage their blog into fame and fortune.

"Fame and fortune, that is why people begin blogging, isn't it, Jack?" Now I am paraphrasing, but that is a question that I have been asked many times. It goes alongside of you have to be a real narcissist or have an ego the size of cleveland to blog don't you.

The answer to the question of "must blogging have a purpose" is no. It doesn't. There is no requirement to do so.

The critical question is why do you want to blog. Once you answer that question than it is much easier to determine what are appropriate follow up questions as well as what answers should be given for said questions.

If you can answer why you want to blog you can address whether your blogging should have purpose. I would argue that having a purpose offers significant advantages/benefits in that it allows you to construct a plan of action. Said plan provides opportunity to set goals and check them off your list. Some people love being able to make those lists just so that they can check off their accomplishments.

As is my wont I have been thinking again about where I want this blog to go and what I hope to achieve. It is not what it once was, although I am no longer sure what I thought that it was. At one point in time I tried to create a separate blog that I would use to serve as a tool to highlight important posts.

For a variety of reasons that blog kind of fizzled out. I suppose that you could attribute it to a lack of time and lack of a clear purpose.

So maybe the real answer is that blogging must have a purpose.

What do you think?

Traffic Building Tricks for Bloggers

If your blog traffic is contingent upon your ability to provide free crap you might want to reconsider how you go about blogging.

Your Blog is Your Online Resume

Ten thousand years ago the editor of a college newspaper sat back and listened to a professor lecture a room full of students about how to market themselves to publications that were searching for writers. Since it was the ice age she didn't talk about Photoshop, PowerPoint or any of the myriad tools that we now have access to.

Back then the tale she told was to be diligent in cutting our your clips so that they could be displayed in a professional manner. You wanted your portfolio to look beautiful because sometimes your potential employer would spend more time looking at it then reading the articles contained within.

I always thought that was ridiculous and stupid. Because if I was the one doing the hiring I would be more interested in the quality of their writing then how well they could package it. I was young, dumb and naive. At that time I really believed that the working world was filled with people who would go to work and do their jobs because that is what they got paid for.

It never occurred to me that all the political crap we went through during our school year would be there. It never occurred to me that group projects would still be difficult because the load wasn't shared fairly across the board. But you live and learn and if you want to prosper here in cyberspace than maybe of those same lessons are applicable.

We could argue that your blog is your online resume, especially if you are someone who wants to earn a living as a writer and or use their blog to generate additional income. And if experience has taught me anything it is that though content may be king, you better have a user friendly blog.

User friendly meaning that it is not filled with crap that causes pages to freeze or is hard to read. User friendly meaning that it is easy to find your contact information, an "about you page" and a friendly commenting system.

There is nothing wrong with a commenting system that requires approval of all comments before they go live. However I would argue against using a registration system as those few extra steps often lead to the reader pointing and clicking their way to greener pastures.

So while I want to say that people shouldn't judge your work on anything but substance the reality is that like it or not, presentation plays a role. It is part of why my blog irritates me- I don't like the presentation. It is not the clean professional look I prefer, but I am working on it.

What do you think?

Dear Angry Blogger

Dear Angry Bloggers,

Consider this an open letter to any blogger who is unhappy with the way that they are being treated by brands and or PR agencies. As I mentioned in the silly video above I am a bit confused by your anger and I wonder if your outrage is real or manufactured.

We are going to operate based upon the assumption that none of us are being forced to blog. Of course in the age of reality television when someone like Kate Gosselin is famous it is entirely possible that I am wrong about this. It is possible that some man has a gun pointed at your head and is insisting that you blog about how proud you are that your son can now poop in the potty or why that one night in college is so memorable.

For most of us this is not the case and our time at the keyboard is entirely of our own choosing. And choice is the operative word here because we all have a choice as to whether we wish to work with PR agencies/brands. If we don't like the terms that are being offered we can try to negotiate better terms or simply say no.

There is a lot of power in that word, no. Use it wisely and you'll often find that you receive better terms but that is the topic for a different post. So let's circle back here for a moment and talk for a moment about what is going on.

A business who wishes to use your blog for ads/sponsorship is doing so because they think that you will help reach prospective customers. This is all about the eyeballs. They want to be targeted and to reach as many of those eyeballs for as little as possible.

Your job as a content provider is to provide proof that you reach those eyeballs. If you can do that you have some leverage to work with. If you can't prove it than you have to find a way to convince them to throw you a bone and then you have to hope that the campaign performs well enough for them to want to return.

But you face multiple challenges here. Many of you are playing a game where you do not know or understand the rules. You aren't able to approach these prospective sponsors with the degree of professionalism that you really want to have. Learn their language, find out what sort of terms they use to talk shop and you earn some more credibility. That is not a guarantee that they will work with you either, but it helps.

It helps because you want to make a case for your blog to be included. It helps because you want them to be able to justify your inclusion to whomever it is they report to. Don't be fooled, someone is looking at metrics here. Someone is spending time looking at the ROI of a campaign. Help them by making it easy for them to understand why you should be included.

But again, that is touching upon material for a separate post. What we are really focusing upon here is the nonsense that is being spewed by bloggers who feel like they are being mistreated. You will receive emails with multiple mistakes. Perhaps they misspelled your name or made it clear that they haven't read your blog. That is silly and unprofessional on the part of the sender, but it doesn't really require a 800 word post on how you are being mistreated.

Delete it and move on.

The reality is that you are operating in a crowded field with a low barrier to entry. If you don't like how you are being treated get out or find a way to distinguish yourself from the crowd. It is not easy but it is not impossible either.

Be a Better Blogger- Write More Frequently

(thought that this was worth another run.)

A client asked me to give him a two minute walkthrough on how to become a better blogger. The answer is to service your readers by providing them with incredible content that they cannot find anywhere else and to do it in a user friendly manner.

That is the sort of non-specific answer that sounds good but really doesn't tell you anything. Some people might say that I made a career of filling bluebooks with that kind of nonsense, but that is a story that I'll save for a different day.

What I want to focus upon is the more specific answer that I gave my client to chew upon. I told him that he needs to write more frequently. Writing is a discipline and like any other it can be improved upon by engaging in regular practice.

I encourage people to write at least five days a week. It doesn't necessarily have to be on any particular topic, it just needs to be consistent. The more often you write the easier it becomes to sit down and start composing at the keyboard.

In addition there are two other exercises that you can use to improve your writing. Read, read and read some more. Take the time to read newspapers, books, blogs and magazines. Spend time indulging in some critical thought about how other writers construct their posts/essays/stories.

You can pick up all sorts of useful and interesting tricks.

The next step is to work on expanding your vocabulary. Buy a thesaurus, get a book that focuses on helping to expose you to vocabulary words that you are unfamiliar with. Take time to learn how to use some of those words and start to integrate them into your writing.

Words are powerful. A broad vocabulary serves as an awesome tool that you can always count upon. With a little practice and some effort you can find ways to craft the sort of sentence that paints a picture that the reader can see.

One of my personal goals in every post is to try and build sentences that sing. I want paragraphs that make it impossible for the reader to misunderstand my intent. Part of why I love Springsteen's music is that he writes songs that tell stories. Between the words and the music there is a glowing tapestry that I can't help but see.

One more quick comment before I retire for the evening. While I encourage frequent writing I do not necessarily advocate posting with the same frequency. There is something to be said for culling through your posts and only uploading the really good ones.

Of course I don't follow my own advice, but who does. Night from L.A. See you all in the morning.

7 Reasons Why You Will Read This Post

Ok, here are seven reasons why you will read this post:

Lists are the best kind of linkbait. People can't help but read them. They are short and easy.
Now that you read item one you might as well look at the next so onto number three.
There might be a giveaway, ya know, free stuff and who doesn't like free stuff.
Well, I don't like free stuff or should I say that I don't like administrative work so I rarely do giveaways.
But if I did do one I'd like it to be cool.
The sixth reason why you will read this is because, yes just because.
Number seven is simple. You came this far, so you might as well go the distance.

And that my friends leads me in a new direction in which I tell you that if you want to last at this game- if you want to be the blogger that outlasts the other you need to do this because you love it. Or at bare minimum you need to do this because you like it.

Really, if you don't like it than there is no reason to keep it up. Surely you have other things to do with your time, more important things...don't you.

Of course I am a bad example as I post with ridiculous frequency so who am I to say anything about anything. Stay tuned to this bat channel- more stuff coming shortly.

The Blogger I Want To Be

(originally published here)

The Blogger I Want To Be. I like the sound of that, kind of reminds me of the old standby essay that teachers made us write: What I did on my Summer Vacation.

I like it because I love summer. It is my favorite time of years. I love going to the beach and camping trips. I love leaving town and doing a little globe trotting. Summer reminds me of hot dogs and barbecues, summer loves (ok, all you Danny Zuko and Sandy wannabees you can stop humming 'Summer Nights.') and just endless possibilities.

Endless possibilities, that is what the beginning of every summer felt like to me. Who knew how many cool adventures lay ahead of me. I never did, but I always looked forward to them.

The Blogger I Want To Be knows how to tell a good yarn. He can take those endless Summer nights and compose a tale that is too compelling to skim. He can come up with tremendous insight into the human psyche and what our roles are in the world.

The Blogger I Want To Be can write about politics and history. He is erudite, refined and witty and he does it all without coming off as being stuffy. People seek him out because it feels good to be near and to share in his community. He is not arrogant nor pretentious although his detractors wish that he were.

The Blogger I Want To Be is not just a myth or even a mister. The Blogger I Want To Be is a goal that I set for myself. I don't know if I will ever be that guy. In part because I am very much human and subject to all of the failings and frailties of humanity.

But without The Blogger I Want To Be as a goal I am not sure if this blog would worth visiting. Goals are important. They help to keep us motivated so that we always try to do our best. Why work if you are going to give a subpar performance. If you are going to do it you might as well do it well.

I'd write more but I hear the roar of the ocean in the background and I desperately need to feel some sand between my toes. I think that I am going to go commune with the sea for a while. I'll catch up with you all later.

The Rules of Guest Blogging

What happens when the Man of Steel is too busy saving the world to blog? Answer: Jack steps in and provides the Rules of Guest Blogging.

Alas, A Blogiversary

Somewhere in the annals of history there is an award that is given out for the brave, the bold and the stupid. Don't ask me what that means or why, I am a blogger. A blogger who for six years has run around writing about the serious and the sublime. A man on a mission who has produced more content than 27 ordinary bloggers could do while hopped on speed.

There is no real significance to that. No rewards to be reaped from such production other than those I give to myself. Not much to gather from any of that other than a measure of my own madness. Really, who spends six years writing all this crap and more importantly who reads it and why.

Ok, if I can allow myself to get by the self deprecation I'll dip my toe into the waters and be serious for a few minutes. Every year I write a post celebrating my blogiversary and hope that I come up with something meaningful, something significant and noteworthy.

The real point of the blogiversary post is to be introspective and reflective about my blogging experience. It is a chance for me to take some time to evaluate my work. Not that I don't do that anyway, but in theory this is the time for the yearly review. The time when I decide whether the blog deserves a raise or a written warning. The time when I think about whether I should change the focus.

Anyway, I have wasted enough words on this post. Thank you to all who spend time here, it is appreciated.

If you want to know what other nonsense I have come up with for blogiversary posts you can click on the links below:

A Blogiversary
Happy Blogivesary To Me
My Third Blogiversary- Not Quite a Farewell
My Fourth Blogiversary- What Do I have To Say
Happy Blogiversary Jack

The Rules of Blogging- How To Make Money Part 1

If you are an "I don't like authority" kind of person like me than blogging is a wonderful place to be. Enjoy your freedom and revel in it. Engage it with the sort of passion you devote to whatever or whomever you love and watch your life change. Soon you'll be rolling in millions. People will flock to your blog and advertisers will beg you to promote their products.

Really, it is true. If you roll with the mommy bloggers they'll tell you the same thing. They'll share posts about not selling yourself short and how you deserve to be paid for your efforts. That makes a lot of sense, doesn't it- the idea of being paid for your services.

The rub is that many of you don't deserve a dime. You don't offer anything of significant value to an advertiser. I know, that is really harsh and not at all charitable. But from a business perspective it is reality. Perhaps a cold and unpleasant reality but reality nonetheless.

The good news is that you don't need an M.B.A. or a J.D. to understand why a business does or doesn't need you. You don't really need to read posts by social media experts to figure out that businesses want to reach as many eyeballs of their target demographic for as little money as possible.

They want to position themselves alongside thought leaders who can influence their target demographic to purchase their products and services. So while it is nice to know that you have a loyal readership of 12 and can provide them with access to this highly influential group it is unlikely to be of interest.

No one cares that you predict that within six months the Matilda Hornsucker blog will quadruple in size. You simply aren't big enough to get their attention. You could be 100 times bigger and still fall short of what they are looking for.

I suppose that I should mention that the ubiquitous they I am referring to are the companies that are spending millions of dollars on their online ad campaign because there are quite a few who do so. Is it just me or do you get a tingly sensation in your hands just thinking about that. It is easy to imagine that a company that has a multimillion dollar ad budget would have no problem kicking over a few shekels to you.

Really, why couldn't they spend a measly $5,000 a month on your blog. It is such a small percentage of their budget they wouldn't notice. Ah, but they do notice more often than you realize.

The smart companies track their ad dollars far more closely than you might realize. They have people on their marketing team and their ad agencies that are paid monitor these things. They want to know what their ROI is. They want data that they can use to show to their bosses and or shareholders. Data that demonstrates that advertising drives leads that convert into sales. They want data that demonstrates that their advertising provides their brand with a positive public perception.

What that means is that there is work tied into that measly $5k we just discussed. Someone has to follow those dollars. Someone has a spreadsheet that they use to track these expenditures. And the last thing that they want to do is have to account for a poor performance.

So they are careful in where they put those dollars. That means that if you want to get a piece of the pie you are going to have to provide them with data that they can use to support including your blog on the buy. That means that you are likely competing with bigger sites that have constructed media kits that serve as the proof.

Those kits contain demographic information that is likely more detailed than what you have to offer. I have never seen a personal blog that has a serious media kit. I suppose that it is possible, but I have my doubts.

This is part of why blog networks developed. The power of many versus the power of one. Remember this is about reaching eyeballs. If you run a network and can offer access to millions of eyeballs it is easier to overcome some of the difficulties in not having real demographics to present.

I say real demographics because I am a skeptic about them. Much of that information is generated from user surveys and other sources that I question the validity of, but that is a different topic.

This is part of the reason why so many media kits supplement their user data with general stats about users. On the mommy blogger side you can guarantee that they are going to make some sort of claim about what role women play in shopping for various items. Another example of broad claims is saying that 3 out of 5 dentists recommend a particular product. But again, I don't want to get caught up in that.

Some of you might try to overcome some of these objections by offering a free campaign. In concept it seems like a reasonable way to start a relationship. Dear Mr. Advertiser I am so confident that your campaign will do well I am willing to give to you for free.

That is a rough way to go for a host of reasons. Some advertisers won't do it because free doesn't remove their obligation to track the campaign. The work still exists and they'd rather not get involved unless they are comfortable that they'll benefit.

But it is also rough because you severely limit your ability to negotiate future ad buys. It is really hard to get people to pay more the second time around. Most ad buyers will work to get a better deal the second time around.

This brings us back to the bloggers who say that everyone needs to start somewhere. Many of them never think beyond that first sponsor. They don't think about the situation we addressed above, nor do they realize that their actions impact the rest of us in the blogosphere. You could make a crude comparison between this and sex.

If you put out for anyone who asks they don't have a reason to go elsewhere and they probably won't respect you in the morning.

One could argue that two of the biggest problems are the low barrier to entry and the minimal financial investment. People are far less cautious spending throwaway cash than they are with more significant investments.

So let's go back the original discussion about being paid what you are worth. I really do support that. I'd rather see bloggers get paid for their efforts. But I am also a realist and very few deserve a dime, at least from the perspective of the business.

Lest anyone say that I am picking on the mommy bloggers let me say that I feel the same way about the dads. Although the good news for us fathers is that the field is not nearly as cluttered. It is easier to distinguish yourself and stand out from the crowd.

Even so, we are still subject to the same rules as listed above.

Just a couple more comments and then it is on to more exciting ventures.

1) If you spend time reading these types of posts it sounds like a million pitches are being sent out. I don't believe it. Quite a few of these bloggers are inflating numbers and or omitting the part in which they pitched the agency/brand.

2) Very few bloggers make real money from selling ads or any sort of sponsorship on their blogs. If they are doing well it pays for some groceries or gas but not much beyond that.

3) If you don't love to blog and aren't making money or receiving really cool products for your use you are unlikely to last for any length of time. There are probably better uses for your time.

I still dislike the blog with integrity buttons. If you have to use that on your blog than maybe you have an issue that needs to be dealt with. Be transparent in your posts and make sure that your disclosure policy is visible and you'll have fewer problems.

Anyway, that is all I have got for you right now.

How Long Will You Keep On Blogging?

In light of the reaction to this post I though that it made sense to toss out another question.

This is the question of the moment. How long do you expect to keep on blogging? Do you have any sense of how long you can keep on going?

Will you be one of those bloggers who comes on fast and furious and then suddenly disappears or will you be here for the long haul.

What do you think?

(Originally posted here.)

Random Thoughts- Do They Have Meaning?