You Are in a Blog With Many Links…
This blogging business is deceiving. What could be simpler than an on-line diary, your own personal street corner from which to proclaim your thoughts and feelings to the world? Ah, but there’s a catch–unlike said street corner, where every passerby is a potential listener, you’ve got to attract people to your website (I believe the technical term is “drive traffic”). Therein lies my problem.
I’m not a Luddite, honest (tho’ I still prefer to write out my stories longhand). I’m actually pretty proficient at most technical stuff (that’s the official word for it. Stuff. If you look on page 667 of the Microsoft Handbook for World Domination, you’ll see “All technological applications will hereby be known as ’stuff.’” ) I can program a VCR without reading the instructions. I can make Word jump through hoops (and occasionally play dead if I’m not careful). I can even brainwash my computer into thinking it’s a record player. But when it comes to the Internet, I often feel like Alice down the rabbit hole. There are some highly explored territories in which I am comfortable. Email I’ve had since the early 90s. Travelocity, Ebay, Amazon…shopping in general is fine. Searching is a piece of cake too. But blogging is a whole different beast. So it was a big step for me to venture into this sector of the cyberworld and start a blog.
My husband the scientist–who teethed on a calculator and learned to walk by toddling towards a Commodore 64. Who spends more time on the computer than I spend awake, and who is well on his way to becoming an überblogger–is full of all sorts of helpful hints for me. I must sign up at Technorati and Blogspot and BlogBlogBlog and BlogExplosion and Carnival of Blogs and Blog of Blogs and Blog.blog and Blogorama and various and sundry other names which go in one ear, bounce around a few times like a pinball, and then speed their way out the other side. Listing with these sites will allow my site to show up in searches of keywords like “book reviews” or “writing” or “stay-at-home moms with diaper-brain.”
Even more vital (according to hubby) is the visiting and leaving of comments on other blogs. Choosing where to go is rather like those old, old computer adventure games. First you have to find a starting point. Okay, I thought to myself. I can do that. A kind young lady left a comment on my blog, so I’ll return the visit. On her blog I found oh-so-many interesting websites related to writing and publishing. So I started clicking on those. And on each of those websites were more websites, and more, more, and before I knew it I was in a room with many doors, an empty birdcage in my hand, and an angry dwarf chasing me with an ax. Thank goodness for the back button on my browser.
Anyhow, it is extremely difficult to draw a line on how far from Website Prime I’m going to travel before calling it quits. I could spend my entire life click click clicking away on my poor little mouse, and still have websites to visit. There are so many relevant sites, but I can’t visit or link to all them. Which should I visit? How am I to choose? Should I even attempt another foray into the dark jungles of the blogosphere, or should I just stay safe at my homepage and hope other, more seasoned, explorers find their way to my site? Decisions, decisions, decisions.
And then there’s the issue of comments. Each comment must be carefully scripted and polished so as to attract readers to your site to discover the source of such wit and sagacity. If I spent as much time writing my books as I do trying to write meaningful comments (or these posts for that matter), I’d have more novels to my name than Barbara Cartland. Where do all these other writer-bloggers find the time? Are their muses more generous with the outpourings of inspiration? Actually, it’s probably 1. they’re not sleeping near as much as I am, and 2. they’re not suffering from an advanced case of diaper-brain (not that I’d trade the source of said diaper-brain for anything, including a publishing contract).
Well, I think it’s time to stop writing and start surfing again. I’ve got my pith helmet and trusty machete ready. Hopefully this time I’ll choose the link that doesn’t have the angry dwarf at the end of it. (And you know, I never did find out what the birdcage was for…)
September 8th, 2005 at 1:55 am
Take it one link at a time. Find one you really like, browse it for a bit, maybe bookmark it. Leave it when your brain feels like it has gone into overdrive. Go back when you’re ready.
As for popularity… Make friends. Comment when you can, link them in your blog, etc. Blog Explosion (http://www.blogexplosion.com/) is also pretty cool, but not at all mandatory.
And above all… Have fun.
September 8th, 2005 at 4:48 pm
Yes … having fun is key. Plus, it gives the opportunity to post funny pictures of your spouse.
September 9th, 2005 at 1:59 am
[...] To see me reliving my childhood memories, check out this post on HittingTheBooks.com. September 9th, 2005 @ 01:59 AM • Filed under Fun Money Facts [...]
September 10th, 2005 at 7:53 am
Back in the old days, pre-computers and TV and all other distractive gadgets, people did an amazing thing. They actually visited with each other in person. And sometimes they did so in large numbers, at say a church gathering, or town hall meeting.
These days, people need to visit over the internet. Blogging is a great way to visit with people without ever having to talk to them in person!!
Kidding aside, blogging is one of the most effective ways to to market on the internet. It’s probably the best way to network and meet people online that I’ve seen so far. I’m just experimenting with blogs vs websites as far as search engine marketing goes.
I did reach your blog through clicking other people’s links. This is much different than websites. I couldn’t put my competitors links on my highly competitive websites. But, I don’t mind putting other bloggers links on my blog.
Chatting and commenting on blogs can be hard on the back, literally, but it is a great way to develop relationships that lead to more people visiting your site.
Come by and visit: Financial Maturity Blog
September 12th, 2005 at 12:47 pm
Don’t leave us in suspense — did you escape from the dwarf? Did you ever get across the rainbow bridge?
Welcome to the wide, wide, WIDE world of the blogosphere!
It’s LOADS of fun!
September 12th, 2005 at 5:00 pm
The most important thing is to have fun & not get discouraged. I didn’t get any comments during my entire first month of blogging.
One of the things about blogging is, just like with anything else, you improve with time & experience. Keep up the great work & don’t give up
Good luck on your book.
PS: I love Leahy too
September 12th, 2005 at 8:03 pm
In answer to Ogre’s question, no. I never did find out how to get away from the dwarf, or how to open the doors. Guess I just didn’t know which action to tell the game to perform (throw birdcage at dwarf? talk to dwarf? set door on fire? Perhaps “Put dwarf in birdcage” would have worked. Now I don’t even remember the name of the game, just sitting there in front of our ancient Radio Shack computer and tell that black screen and little blinking white cursor exactly what I thought of the game.
September 14th, 2005 at 10:16 pm
You write well – I’m sure you’ll gain a following, and I’ll be back to visit!
September 20th, 2005 at 2:49 pm
Yes, yes. All those interesting blogs. All those links to all those other interesting blogs. That’s it exactly. One can get lost forever.
September 21st, 2005 at 12:43 am
The birdcage was for housing the nightingale that would sing the dragon to sleep. And you had to be maddeningly intuitive to “get key” that they never told you about before you could open doors. Ah, Shareware on monochrome monitors….
September 23rd, 2005 at 10:49 pm
Mome Rath–are you joking about the birdcage, or do you really recognize the game I was ranting about?! I can never quite tell with you… ;P
September 23rd, 2005 at 11:06 pm
Oh – I remember the game. Though I don’t remember the name of it. And I could never win the game because our copy had a flaw in the code that would shut down the game halfway through. But that game has been long gone with my parent’s old Leading Edge IBM knock-off.
October 19th, 2005 at 12:07 am
[...] I’m one of those people who has a mind for numbers. (After all, I was teethed on a calculator.) I can’t remember where I put my keys, but I can rattle off the first eleven digits of pi — 3.1415926535 — (yeah … yeah … I’m an excellent driver …) [...]