Great Find: Go Give It Your 75%

Filed Under Business Life, Great Finds, Motivation/Inspiration, Productivity, Successful Blog | 1 Comment

Before You Go Back

As you think about how shorter work weeks feel longer, read this

Great Find: Thank you for coming to work. Now scram!
Type of Article: Report on productivity
Permalink: http://positivesharing.com/2006/03/committed/
Target Audience: Everyone who works

Content:Alexander Kjerulf has done the research. In companies that shortened the work week from 40 to 30 hours NO productivity was lost. Doesn’t surprise me. How about you? Want the details? Click the title shot below to get the facts.

Thanks Alexander, for proving what we already suspected — we do things other than work 25% of the time.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

SOB Business Cafe 05-26-2006

Filed Under Audience, Great Finds, Successful Blog | 12 Comments

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the title shots to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Take the test with Dr. Deborah Serani to find out the basic psychology of being a customer. It’s quick and surprising.

Oystein, the Advice Librarian, explains how and why (and where to go) to use images to kickstart your writing.

Advice Librarian Kickstart Your Writing using images

Kyle Bunch at Blogebrity shares the consequences of interns blogging. Follow the links. It’s fascinating.

Keith introduces beggr, a new way to monetize your blog.

Related ala carte selections include

Ohad has one invitation left. Will you be getting paid to play games too?

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like.
No tips required. Comments appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Great Find: Create Your Own WordPress Theme

Filed Under Branding, Design, Great Finds, Marketing, Successful Blog | 2 Comments

Something to Do This Weekend

You’ve got some energy and a weekend to change things around. Why not go for it?

Great Find: Blog design 101: Creating your own WordPress theme by Rachel Cunliffe
Type of Article: How-to on WordPress Theme design
Permalink: http://cre8d-design.com/blog/2006/01/27/blog-design-101-creating-your-own-wordpress-theme/
Target Audience: Designers and the brave among others

Content: Rachel Cunliffe, blog (and website) designer from New Zealand, is well known for her work around the blogosphere. She did Darren’s unique Problogger.net design among others. This classic post gives some start up advice and links . . . with more links in the comments . . . and even more links in the related posts. Click the title shot below for a peek. Rachel’s blog, cre8d design, is the real Great Find here.

Great design is curb appeal, branding, and promotion.

Thanks Rachel, for giving us a start. We’ll use this until we can hire YOU.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Out WikiPedia, Hello Encyclopedia of Stupid

Filed Under Analysis, Great Finds, Successful Blog, ZZZ-FUN | 6 Comments

Wikipedia Called Us Nonsense

So maybe you were around when we got mired in the labyrinth of the Wikipedia, or when we tried to find out why an article, written by Martin Neumann of the Small Office Herald about the Link Leak Virus, a term coined by Mike Sigers, was summarily deleted within minutes of it’s submission.

I actually wrote to Wikipedia about the situation. The official Wikipedia response to my email said I’d get a response in a few minutes . . . that was over 13 days ago. Hope the young man took food and water with him. A reader friend let us know that some editor said that it was “nonsense.” Kudos to the Advice Librarian who helped us make sense of everything.

We at Successful Blog needed that. We hadn’t had our ideas or our writing called nonsense by a stranger who didn’t know us for a very long while.

Finally I’ve found the home for us — The Encyclopedia of Stupid! Read more

Great Find: Boosting Blog Traffic

Filed Under Basics, Great Finds, Marketing, Successful Blog | 6 Comments

When I went looking to see what was new on blog traffic and blog promotion, I didn’t expect to find anything nearly as thorough as this.

Great Find: HOW TO: Boost Your Blog Traffic by Paul Staminou
Type of Article: How-to on every step
Permalink: http://www.paulstamatiou.com/2005/11/03/how-to-boost-your-blog-traffic/
Target Audience: Everyone who blogs

Content:Paul Staminou has put together the complete document. It’s amazing and beautiful. This is not a mere blog post. It’s an e-book with visuals. It covers content, usuability, Technorati, blog networks and blog rings, feeds, stats, and how to talk to lurking readers. I think the value of the post is shown in the 193 comments. The trackback from this post will make it 194. To get there, as always, click on the screenshot of the title below.

Thanks Paul for the obvious time and work that went into this post.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
I’ll be adding this post to the others on the NEW BLOGGER PAGE.

Steve, Liz, & Ben Franklin on Learning

Filed Under Basics, Community, Great Finds, Successful Blog, Survival Kit | 25 Comments

Learning from Each Other

Benjamin Franklin said, “Things that hurt instruct.” I’m a curious sort. I learned how a stapler worked in kindergarten by putting a staple through my hand. I didn’t do that again. I even told my friends about it. I’m still telling you now. That way some folks won’t have to learn the way I did.

Steve Remington agrees with Ben Franklin and me. So much he’s started a blog about it called Why My Blog Stinks and on one page in particular he’s inviting bloggers to swap stories of small things that went wrong on their way to success. I’ve started it out with one. Take a look and add your own by clicking the title below.

It’s a great way to learn from each other. No one else needs to learn about staplers the way I did. Not all learning needs to hurt. I think Ben would agree with that.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related articles
NEW BLOGGER PAGE Lots of great posts on how to avoid problems on the new blogger page.

Fun Find: Color Box Game

Filed Under Great Finds, Successful Blog, ZZZ-FUN | 1 Comment

Playtime for your right brain . . .

Great Find: Color Box Puzzle Game by Eyehook
Type of site: Addictive color box puzzle game
Permalink: http://www.eyehook.com/games/colorBox/index.html
Target Audience: Everyone who likes puzzle games
Content: I’ve found that a way to recharge my brain after writing is to do something colorful that has no words involved. This game by eyehook does trick far longer than it needs to . . . uhm . . er . . . I get started and I don”t want to stop. Click the screenshot to play with this coloful little gem.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

SOB Business Cafe 04-21-2006

Filed Under Business Life, Great Finds, SOB Business, Successful Blog | 2 Comments

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the screenshot to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Tony at aplawrence.com gives calm warning that most of our passwords aren’t really passwords.

Pinyo at Great Nexus wonders whether social bookmarking sites have become a bunch of stuff that would never be on a cafe menu. There’s a link within the post to a second review of social bookmarking sites.

Rob at Jamdo explains to marketers how to reach our inboxes without taking on the traits of spammers.

One of the original Successful and Outstanding Bloggers, John Oxton of Joshuaink, reveals a peek at a new template he’s been working on. A link within the top post takes you to the colorful template that I show.

Related ala carte selections include

eLearning Source offers an entire archive of how to use the web for instructional design.

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like.
No tips required. Comments appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Blogging Allows Folks with Autism Equal Access

Filed Under Business Life, Community, Great Finds, Successful Blog | 6 Comments

You might not have considered it, but some of the folks who read your blog are probably autistic. Blogs make information accessible to people with autism in ways the auditory information is not.

Being a teacher and a peculiar person myself, I’ve more than a passing interest in how blogging has found a place in the lives of autistic people. Estee Klar-Wolfond is a blogger and the parent of a child with autism. I’ve been following Estee’s blog for a while now. She explains the blogging connection in this quote from her latest post.

Thankfully, the blog is an equalizer of humans . . . It is a universe, a â€œsphereâ€? without rules, without barriers â€“ faceless, sometimes nameless. It transcends some physical and attitudinal barriers and in this realm, one cannot judge another based on appearance or so-called levels of â€œfunctioning.â€?

Great Find: The Blog and Human Equality by Estee Klar-Wolfond
Type of Article: an editorial discussing the current views on autism and the impact blogging has had on the community of persons with autism
Permalink: http://joyofautism.blogspot.com/2006/04/blog-and-human-
Target Audience: Anyone who wants to know more about how blogging can change the lives of a population
Content: This is a serious read by a sincere author who knows the subject intimately and has done the research. I include it here because I know autistic people are among our readers and because knowing how others process what we write is valuable information. To access the article, click on the quote below by an autistic blogger taken from Estee’s article.

â€œZilariâ€? of Part Processing makes a number of comments on her processing time with colleagues at work:

â€œThis is the main reason I prefer reading to listening. I like huge blocks of text I can sift through and find the relevance in. I like how text stays firm within time and does not melt away like sound. I like how reading does not demand every 30 seconds that one speaks to the text aloud and says, “Yes, I’m getting it, carry on!â€¦”

Thanks Estee for sharing what you know with Successful Blog readers.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

MUST HAVE: Content Theft Series

Filed Under Business Life, Great Finds, Successful Blog, Survival Kit | 5 Comments

This is more than a GREAT FIND. It’s a MUST HAVE. It’s going straight into the survival kit. Lorelle from WordPress has put together an amazing series of documents replete with facts on copyright and intellectual property that every blogger should have at his or her fingertips.

Great Find: What Do You Do When Someone Steals Your Content by Lorrell at WordPress
Type of Article: series on content theft
Permalink: http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/04/10/what-do-you-do-when-someone-steals-your-content/
Target Audience: Anyone who puts content on the Internet

Content: Lorrell at WordPress, one of my personal heroes and a highly respected web journalist, did extensive research to pull together a series of three documents on what to do when you find yourself in the unhappy situation of having your content stolen, hijacked from your blog or website. The series goes deep with uncountable links and resources. Her advice is straightforward and crystal clear. The series covers the topic completely. I’ll let her describe it.

This is the first of three articles. This article covers tips, information and resources to help you deal with copyright infringement, the theft of your blog or website content. The second article includes helpful links and resources for finding stolen content and copyright infringements. The last article in the series examines the growing trends in content theft such as image hotlinking, website hijacking, and abusive use of feeds to replace original content without permission, as well as other copyright infringements on the rise.

Lorrell takes you through each part with step-by-step advice and sends you to the experts for more information. I’ve taken classes on copyright that didn’t cover the subject nearly this well.

Do yourself and your content the favor of checking this out. Click the screenshot to get started.