Lightening's Blogworld

Changes Afoot

2008-01-25T12:10:00.000+10:30

Hello to all my loyal subscribers (all 6 of you ;) )!

And anyone who happens to pop by to see what I'm saying of course. :)

This is a scoop just for you!!!!

Lightening's Blogworld is in the process of moving to a self hosted wordpress site.

Yes, the wordpress self-hosting bug has bitten me so hard that I now have 2 blogs on self-hosted.

lighteningsblogworld.com is not due to "officially" launch until Feb 1st.... BUT, I wanted you guys to know about it first. So pop over and check it out.

I am attempting to switch my feedburner address over so that if you're subscribed to THIS blog, you should automatically switch and start receiving posts via your feedreader for the new blog (and therefore not NEED to resubscribe).

However, I cannot do that until I send this post so you have a clue what is happening. Otherwise you won't get this message. :)

And of course, it is all dependent on whether I can actually manage to make that happen. But I will keep you posted. If I have trouble with it, I'll come back here and post another message asking you to manually resubscribe to the new blog. We have a week to get ourselves sorted out before the rest of the world comes rushing in (LOL).

So, please pop on over and I'll give you a grand tour. There are a few little jobs that still need doing but I *know* that you, my loyal friends and readers will excuse the few packing boxes lying around the place. ;)

Feel free to leave a comment and respond to my poll in the sidebar. It feels all a little lonely and echoey around there so I'd really LOVE so company!!!! :)

See you there and thanks for reading!!!! :)

Oh, and come February 1st, if you'd like to give me a hand to spread the word about the new blog, I'd be ever so grateful!!!! :)

Aussie Bloggers

2008-01-22T11:35:00.000+10:30

The Aussie Bloggers Blog was launched yesterday.

Here is a copy of the "About" page for Aussie Bloggers

Aussies, and bloggers, can be really nice people . Put the two together and you have the potential for a wonderful community.

At Aussie Bloggers, we are passionate about blogging and helping other Aussies do the same.

Our goal is to:

empower, encourage, support and promote Aussie Bloggers and the Australian blogosphere in general

Specifically we hope to:

provide a resource for new bloggers
provide assistance in a welcoming (non-threatening) environment
promote networking of Aussie bloggers
promote the visibility/credibility of Australian bloggers and the Australian blogosphere

We envisage that this blog and forum will best help us meet our objectives in a collaborative, friendly environment.

We hope to assemble a range of Australian bloggers to be regular contributors to the blog and forum. A group of Aussie bloggers who have demonstrated a willingness to help other bloggers and who are working towards raising the profile of blogging in Australia.

The official launch for our blog will be 21^st January, 2008. In the meantime our (beta) Aussie Bloggers forum is open for discussion.

We look forward to seeing you around the community

If you haven't been over to have a look yet, I'd encourage you to do so. Blogging posts will be written by a large range of different people so it promises to be an interesting and varied read.

National Hugging Day

2008-01-21T18:49:00.000+10:30

Apparently today is National Hugging Day!!! I only found this out yesterday when I wrote the post I Need a Hug on my personal blog. Of course, it isn't today yet for some people in the world. But we'll call it today anyway. Got that?

It would seem that there is a day for EVERYTHING!!!!!

According to the National Hugging Day website, there is also a "National Whiners Day". Who'd have thought? Although, on further reading, I discovered that National Whiners Day is actually a day to be thankful for what you DO have rather than focusing on what you don't have.

On the website you can actually vote for the most huggable person and the most famous whiner!!! LOL. How interesting.

You can print off your own hug colouring sheets.

You can send a hug card.

Now in our family, we have different kinds of kisses. An eskimo kiss, a butterfly kiss, a lizard kiss and so on.

But I've never come across different hugs before. How about this list for a variety of different hugs:

Gorilla Hug - Squeeze the huggee tightly while saying "ooh ooh" like an ape. A great one for grown ups and kids!

Circle Hug - Hugger wraps his or her arms all the way around huggee so huggee can bury his or her face in hugger's chest. A good one for comfort or encouragement!

All Purpose Hug - The any-time-is-good friendly embrace that says, "good to see you" or "I like you!" Usually brief but meaningful.

Cyber Hug - Include the person's name in an e-mail, surrounded by multiple parenthesis, i.e., (((((Donna)))))

Party Hug - A minimum of three huggers grab each other's waists and form a circle of happy hugging people.

The Man Hug - Slap the huggee's upper back while hugging; upper body may touch, but nothing else!

This article describes how a Hug A Day Can Keep the Blues Away.

And I love this quote that I found:

"For human beings, you need two hugs a day to survive, four hugs for maintenance, six hugs to grow." Virginia Satir, a Wisconsin Marriage and Family Therapist.

I know this isn't technically about blogging but I figured a website was close enough and it was worth mentioning. ;-)

I hope you all found someone to hug on this "National Hugging Day". If not here's a {{{HUG}}} from me. :)

We Do Have a Voice

2008-01-20T17:14:00.000+10:30

One of the things I LOVE about blogging is the chance to have a say. To have my opinion or thoughts actually heard. In fact, I think one of the reasons blogging has become so popular with "mommy" bloggers is that those of us home with our children still want to have a voice, to make a difference.

Over the past week or so, there have been a number of people expressing their voice over Jay Jay's range of Little Losers t-shirts (including yours truly).

Today I have just read a post at Imaginif stating that Jay Jay's have started to take notice of the voices of the general public and have agreed to at least remove these t-shirts from store windows and not restock those that are causing particular concern (ie those with sexual and alcohol references).

While it doesn't entirely resolve the concerns of many, it is at least a step in the right direction. I know that this isn't entirely the result of bloggers voicing their opinions. But I like to hope that in some way, they added to the overall community voice.

Here are some links to some of the blogposts on this topic:

Jay Jays is the Little Loser

National Retailer Selling Lewd T-Shirts to Kids

Mr Pimp Miss Wasted

Little Losers Not so Funny

Kids Have Enough Attitude

Harmless Fun

And some links to articles talking about the changes being made:

No More Little Losers in Shop Windows

Jay Jays Responds to Public Pressure

Obviously I'm glad that some changes have been made, regardless of who made them happen or who claims the credit for doing so. I very rarely blog about controversial or political type topics as it tends not to be in my personality to want to cause a ruckus. All the same, I feel quite pleased that blogging gives people like me the opportunity to have a voice. :-)

Full Feed vs Partial Feed

2008-01-17T11:18:00.000+10:30

Every now and then out there in "blogworld" I read a rant from a blog writer about the issue of full feeds vs partial feeds. To be honest, I used to wonder what all the fuss was about really. So what if a blog writer wants you to have to visit their blog to read what they're reading? Fair enough that they want to count you in their stats (for their own enjoyment and/or for the sake of advertising).

Naturally it didn't matter to me at the time because I was visiting blogs anyway. It wasn't until I attempted to use a feedreader myself that I began to understand what they even meant by frustration with people who only allowed partial feeds.

For those who I have already lost (don't worry, I was there myself not that long ago), a feedreader is basically a page that collects all the recent blogposts you want to read. It shows you when a blog has a new post and you can read that post all there at the same website. When you read a lot of blogs or have a number of blogs that don't update regularly, they are a brilliant way of saving time.

If a blog allows a full feed version, you can read the entire post without needing to actually leave your bloglines page. If they only offer a partial feed you get the first few lines of their post and then have to click through to their page to read the rest. That takes time that I don't always have.

So, if I don't have time to visit the site, does that mean I'm a reader that person isn't really interested in?

I guess the question of whether to run a full feed or a partial feed comes down to this - do you blog to be heard or do you blog for some other reason? There's no real wrong or right answer as to the reason for blogging - but it is a good question to ask yourself when you're making the decision between full and partial feeds for your blog.

What about comments? Do people comment less if they don't have to visit your site? I wondered the same myself before I started reading in a feed reader. Admittedly of late I have been commenting less often per site than I used to due to reading more and more blogs. In general though, I have found that I am MORE likely to comment on a blog where I've been able to read the whole post (and therefore know I have something I'd like to say).

Blogs that only offer partial feeds get left until last in my feed reader. IF I have the time I will have a look at the partial feed and decide if it's worth clicking over to that blog. As it turns out, I visit most of my full feed blogs more often than I visit the partial feed ones.

Sadly this week I culled the first partial feed from my bloglines reader. I still have others but most of them will be the next to go as new blogs get added to my list. I can't help but feel like some of the partial feed blogs are more interested in my advertising value than my reader value. I'm sure this isn't always the case. But it is how I feel.

If you're reading this and only offer a partial feed, please reconsider. If you have some other reason why you only offer a partial feed rather than a full feed, please let me know. I'm always interested in other peoples opinions of what they are doing and why.

Is there anyone reading this that actually PREFERS to subscribe to blogs that only offer a partial feed? If so, I'd be really interested in hearing your viewpoint as well.

A Little Tip

2008-01-15T12:47:00.000+10:30

I learnt a little trick the other day that has made my internet life soooooo much easier. If you have a mouse with the little scroll wheel in the centre. Clicking on a link using that scroll button will open it in a new window.

Once upon a time I made all my links so that they would open in a new window. Why? Because I really appreciated it when others did the same. That way I didn't lose the page I was on. Then I read somewhere that it's considered bad internet etiquette to do so. BAD MANNERS??????? Well, I couldn't have that on my blog could I????? So I stopped making my links that way.

So, anyway, if you're clicking on links in any of my blogs (yes, they appear to be breeding rapidly LOL), try the little scroll button click if you'd like to open the link in a new window/tab.

Where did I learn this little tip? Why at the Aussie Bloggers Forum that's where. :-) If you'd like to go straight to the discussion where the tip was placed, you can go here. It's actually a topic on using firefox as your browser - but that's a topic for another post! :-)

Like More Info on Blogging?

2008-01-13T08:32:00.000+10:30

There really are some amazing bloggers out there and if you haven't yet joined Aussie Bloggers Forum yet then you really are missing out.

It's a great Forum full of wonderfully friendly and knowledgable people. If you have a question related to blogging, you are SURE to get an answer there.

It is also a great place to promote your own blog and find some interesting and new blogs to read.

There are no prerequisites for joining. You don't have to be an Aussie OR have a blog to join. So come on over and have a squiz! I'm sure you'll be glad you did.

Here is a sample of some of the discussions going on over there:

Resources for Stock Photos. A list of great sites you can use to find free photo's to accompany your blog posts.

Feedreaders - which one and why?

Aussie Bloggers Using Entrecard. Read how other bloggers are finding Entrecardas a method of promoting their blogs.

How to Use Stumbleupon.

This is just a little taste of what's available on the forums. They're growing daily and the wealth of information contained within is growing with them. I'd encourage you to take a look, join up and join in the fun!!!

Blog Profile: Meanderings

2008-01-08T13:37:00.000+10:30

Without wanting to be too biased, I really LOVE this blog. Why? It's honest and open and the blog writer really inspires me. I love the way she is constantly open to learning and growing. It's a great attribute. I never hear her complain that she doesn't have enough money to save. Instead she looks at what she has and does what she can to get her toward her goals.

The description says a lot about the author and the blog: "My meandering journey towards conscious living..." I love the image that a "meandering journey" conjures up!

The various tickers she has been using a very inspirational visual. Firstly in repaying debt and then in saving up an emergency fund. I can't wait to see what her next ticker is going to be!!! ;-)

It's not a blog that gets updated daily (partly due to technical issues) which makes using a reader of some kind great as it alerts you to when a new post has been posted.

Please drop by and visit Emma and be sure to take the time to say hello! :-)

Keep posting and inspiring us Emma. I know you don't think you are inspirational, but you ARE!!!!

Ooopppsss......

2008-01-02T09:48:00.000+10:30

When I first began this blog, I wasn't expecting to post EVERY day.....BUT, I was expecting to do a little better than I have so far! My excuses are basically the amount of brainpower put into my new self hosted site (learning wordpress etc), followed by Christmas etc etc.....

I do apologise to the faithful few that still visit here....I'm hoping to do better as soon as our we get back from the beach (yeah, I'm back right now but only quickly) which shouldn't be too many more days (unless we get another heat wave).....

I have 2 blog reviews in the pipeline (haven't forgotten....just need a roundtoit). I want to change HOW I do them a little....just can't make up my mind on the changes. LOL.

So, look out for some more posts soon and thank you so much for sticking with me! :-)

Links

2007-12-19T14:46:00.000+10:30

WHY ARE LINKS IMPORTANT?

It's great if you're talking about another blogger to link to them. It enables your readers to visit their blog and see what you're talking about. This in turn gives that blogger new traffic.

For those who are seriously into increasing their blog traffic, there is another reason why linking is important. Links help to build technorati ranking as well as increasing a blogs position in search engines.

Links will also help those bloggers you've mentioned, find there way back to you.

So it's a win-win situation all round.

HOW DO YOU LINK?

Linking can be a bit overwhelming if you're just starting out in blogging. I know it took me a while to get my head around it. If you're using blogger you'll find a link button in the page you're using to compose your message.

When composing a message, you have a choice of 2 windows. One it called "compose" and the other is called "Edit HTML". Both give you the option of linking. If you link in the compose page, your link will often look much the same as the URL you've added to the box.

Here's an example of what it looks like: http://www.lighteningonline.com/

If you use the "Edit HTML" page to insert a link you'll find the link doesn't show in your page initially. That's because there is nothing inserted between these symbols >< . If you insert whatever text you'd like to appear in your post between those 2 symbols, your link will look more like this Lightening. As you can see it gives a much neater appearance to your blog post to do it this way.

Be mindful that this will insert the link at the bottom of your text. So if you've already written the post and come back to do the links later, you will need to cut and paste that link to the place within your post that you'd like it to appear.

If you're using wordpress, you need to type the text you want to appear, then highlight that text and click on the link icon. Once you've entered the URL into the box that appears, it will turn your highlighted text into a link. I've only just learnt how to do this in wordpress. :-)

IS THAT IT?

Well, I have just learnt that the text you use for your link can be important as well. If you're discussing a topic then it's better for both you and the website you're linking to, if you include related search words as part of your link.

As an example, when I was posting about homemade playdough and wanted to link to Kate's post about homemade playdough. Instead of making the link on the name "Kate", I made the link on the words Homemade Playdough.

I can't say that I'm 100% clear on how all this linking stuff works. If you'd like to know more though, you can read what Meg has to say about linking within posts.

ONE MORE THING

Have you claimed your blog in technorati yet? Even if you're not interested in getting involved in "top blogs" and so on, it's a nice thing to do to take a few moments to claim your blog so that any links you give another blogger can count for them. It is also an interesting way to find out who else might be talking about your blog. I have found some interesting blogs via technorati when they've mentioned me or added me to their blogroll without me actually realising. If you haven't already read it, you might be interested in my Technorati for Beginners post.

If you know anyone who is starting out in blogging or would like to know more about linking, please let them know about this post. I'm trying to keep things reasonably simple so that people like me can understand and follow them. :-)

Join "saving mum" for FREE in December

2007-12-12T16:11:00.000+10:30

Well, it's always nice to get something for FREE and www.savingmum.com.au are offering FREE membership. According to Emma this offer applies for the month of December.

So pop on over there and sign up. I'm not all that familiar with their website yet but it's worth a look. It looks like it's aimed at parents of 0-6 year olds in particular. They even have a section for saving the planet (big tick from me on that one).

While some of the information is aimed at and relevant to parents, I think you'd find plenty for those who don't fit that criteria.

They also offer a free newsletter. I'm yet to recieve one yet so I can't comment on the quality but I figure while it's not costing anything, it might contain some gems of information worthy of reading. :-)

So, head on over there and take advantage of this special offer. I just checked and they are indeed offering this FREE for the month of December. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Don't forget to pop back here and let me and others know what you think of the site.

Favourite Blogposts This Week

2007-12-08T18:52:00.000+10:30

Well, this week has been a rather busy one with setting up my new blog at Lightening Online. I've been used to using Blogger and the switch to Wordpress, while great, is taking some getting used to. :-)

But, I have still been out and about in Blogworld and once again have come across some wonderful posts.

Firstly, I HAVE to mention this post at On Blogging Australia. It's titled Lightening's Problogging Questions. How cool is that? I asked a heap of question and the author of that particular blog answered them all!!! See, I told you that the Blogworld was a nice place to be!

Rachelle at Seek First His Kingdom wrote a post about the Great Christmas Card Debate. It's well worth the read and I guess in some ways relates to the post HELP that I wrote recently where I was talking about the fact that we don't seem to take the time to connect with one another in a "physical" way, even by way of sending a card to let someone know we're thinking of them.

All For Women are having a "12 days of Christmas" giveaway at the moment with a new thing to be given away each day. I have to admit I'm a bit partial to a giveaway so I've been visiting often! ;-)

Well, I know there were lots of other great posts this week but I wasn't so great at making a note of them. Hopefully I'll do better next week! :-)

Lightening Online

2007-12-07T08:18:00.000+10:30

Most of you who read this blog will already know that I have shifted my main blog to www.lighteningonline.com but I wanted to mention it here as well. I still intend to keep this blog as a little sideline of my thoughts and finds in the blogging world. :-) I hope you'll come and visit me at my newly moved blog, as well as continue to visit me here! :-)

Isn't the Blogosphere Such a Nice Place to Be?

2007-12-06T16:57:00.000+10:30

I am constantly amazed by how kind and helpful bloggers are to people that they've only met through the blogworld. What a special place it is to be a part of. I'm so glad I started blogging and moving in blog-circles. I have learnt SO much, met some wonderful people and generally feel like I've improved my quality of life quite dramatically.

If you want to know anything about blogging, there are many wonderful blogs out there which provide some wonderfully useful information. Behind those blogs are some extremely kind and helpful people. To be honest, I expected the blog world to be just like the rest of life. Those at the top happily ignoring those of us at the bottom of the heap and socialising with the rest of the "elite".

Now maybe there are one or two bloggers that are like that - if there are, I'm yet to meet them but I'm still very much a new and tiny fish in this big blogpond.

For the most part, I've noticed that blogging seems to be more of a circle, rather than a hierarchy. How refreshing is that? Sure, there are the top blogging lists and they're always a great way to find new and interesting blogs. But so far it hasn't felt to me like I *have* to be on that list in order to be an integral part of the "blogosphere". I'm not somehow relegated to the less desirable lunch spot just because I'm nowhere near reaching the "top 100" or "top whatever". LOL.

I want to mention specifically a few bloggers whose blogs I have found helpful and who's writers I have found extremely approachable. Snoskred at Life in the Country, Meg at Dipping into the Blogpond and Andrew at On Blogging Australia.If you haven't already found these blogs for your self (and I know it took me a while before I came across some of them), it's well worth a visit and a look around.

Don't forget to say hi in their comments - we all know how much bloggers LOVE their comments. You can even say that Lightening sent you if you like. I know I always find it interesting to discover where people have come from and how they found me. :-)

You might have noticed I'm a bit light on posts this week. I've been working on a new project - to be unveiled very soon. :-) I have a couple of blog reviews in the pipeline and hope to post on those once I get this other "secret project" up and running. :-)

Help a Complete Stranger

2007-12-01T16:56:00.000+10:30

Veronica over at Sleepless Nights has set up a fund to help a 13 year old friend of hers go on a school trip to Japan. Not just any trip, but one where the students had to earn a place to go. Only 10 students from her year level are able to go and she is one of them. What an honour and what an opportunity for her.

If you'd like to do something for someone you haven't met without expecting any return, this is a great opportunity. The trip is costing her $1600 plus spending money. All it would take is 1600 bloggers to donate $1 each. Or 320 bloggers (or blog readers) to donate $5 each. What's $5 these days? It won't even buy you coffee and cake (some places it won't even buy you one OR the other).

Let's show this young girl the power of the blogging world. Let's do this for no other reason than that we can! :-) Go on, make someone smile today!

Oh, and anyone that donates can place this lovely picture on their own blog:

In My Blogworld This Week......

2007-11-30T09:24:00.000+10:30

Wow, there have been some awesome posts this week out in blogland! I just wanted to take the opportunity to share a few of them with you.

Emma at "Meanderings" wrote a great and thought-provoking post titled Taken for Granted . It's an area many of us could do with working on. I was going to include a quote here of part of her post but I think it really is best to visit and have a read of the whole thing yourself. Thanks Emma for your depth of thought and willingness to share with the rest of us. :-)

Frogdancer at "Dancing with Frogs" shared an idea she does with her boys at home in a post titled Our Books . It's a wonderful idea to help build family bonding (in between sibling wars of course) and self esteem. I love it so much that I intend on beginning the same idea in our family VERY SOON. Thanks Frogdancer for sharing such a special part of your family life together!

Ali at "Our Patch" wrote Alternative Gift Wrapping giving a great reminder at this time of year that we don't *have* to do things the way we've always done. Christmas can be a time of great wastage and it's good to stop and have a think about what we're doing and why and consider if there are alternatives out there.

Jon at "On Money Making" wrote an extremely touching and thought provoking post called The Forrest Gump Guide to Becoming a Gazillionaire. It took me by surprise that a post on how to make money actually brought a tear to my eye. What I think struck me the most was the level of integrity included in this post. Maybe I'm too cynical but I feel that a lot of people wanting to "make it to the top" are prepared to step on whoever it takes in order to get there. Whether or not you actually have any desire to become a "gazillionaire" (and personally I don't - I came across this site almost by accident), this post is well worth the read simply for the thought provoking and clever way it has been written. I guess it helps that I'm a personal fan of Forrest Gump - the ultimate in human integrity! :-)

I hope you enjoy reading these posts. I know I did!!! :-) I'm hoping to make this a weekly feature of "Lightening's Blogworld". Let me know if you find it useful or interesting.

Blog Competition

2007-11-28T21:02:00.000+10:30

If you're interested in entering a blog competition, head over to
Stitch Pinkand enter their "Full of Hope" competition. Stitch Pink is a blog dedicated to helping raise awareness of Breast Cancer. And it's pink!!! :-) I love pink!

Bloglines

2007-11-27T15:44:00.000+10:30

I mentioned Bloglines in my first post on this blog. Bloglines is just one of a number of readers that are available on the internet and are a great tool for blog readers.

I had never heard of such a thing all that long ago. To me a "reader" was something you have in the first few years of school when you're learning how to read. LOL.

Basically the idea of them is that you can list all of the blogs that you like to read and as a new post is put up on the blog, your reader indicates that the blog has a new post. You can then read through it and any other new posts, all from the same page. If you're like me and have many blogs you want to keep up with, it certainly is a good way to be able to read through many blogs quickly without needing to search through those who haven't yet posted.

I tried google reader first but was having trouble with it freezing up on me. I'm not really sure why. I gave up and started using bloglines and so far I'm finding bloglines much easier to navigate.

You'll notice some blogs have a "bloglines" button that you can click on to add that blog to your bloglines list. It's not hard to add blogs to your list yourself though. All you have to do is click "Add" in the bloglines window and then copy and paste the web address of the blog. Don't make the mistake I did though and think that you have then successfully added the blog to your bloglines page. LOL. There is one more page you have to go through. Some blogs have a number of feeds and you have to select one of these (don't ask me the difference - you'll have to ask someone who actually knows something about all this stuff to find that out LOL). In fact, just this morning I was reading about this in my blogreader - I decided it was all too complicated for me to worry about right now but if you want to know more about this from a bloggers point of view (more than a readers point of view) go and visit Dipping into the Blogpond.

If you want to add a "bloglines" button to your own blog, simply scroll down the left hand window until you find the list that is under your list of blogs. This is headed "additional features". You then click on "get a subscribe to bloglines button". For some of you, this will all sound very basic. But it took me AGES to find this. Then the next time I went looking for it, I knew I had struggled to find it the first time but couldn't remember WHERE it was so it took me AGES again. LOL. So I guess some of us need "basic". :-)

You can also Claim your own feed by clicking the options link. Above your list of blogs in your left hand window are the links for ADD, EDIT and OPTIONS. Once the "options" window opens in the right hand side, click on "publisher tools" and follow the prompts from there. Well, I'm assuming this option works for someone. For some reason, it refuses to recognise my blogs. *sigh* I think once you do that you have a few more options available to you in regard to your own blog feeds that are presented.

There are also some other great features of bloglines such as the ability to use search words to look for blogs covering particular topics of interest. You can also browse through a list of the most popular blogs. Like most places, it's easy to spend more time there than you intend. LOL.

There are a few downfalls of blog readers that I have noticed. One is that it can take a little while for a new post to be recognised by the reader. Generally this isn't too much of a problem though - unless you desperately want to be the first to read what that blogger has to say. LOL. Another one is that using readers means that your "visit" to the blog isn't recorded as a "visit" by the statcounter on the blog.

It can also make it easier not to bother commenting on a blog. The temptation to whizz through all of the blogs on your list and forget what you wanted to say in response is very real and it can take some discipline at first to get used to going to that blog and commenting before reading on. I think most bloggers *live* for their comments. It gives a good indication of whether or not you've created an interest in what you've said and adds a fantastic dimension to blogs that I don't think other areas of media necessarily provide. So if you're using a reader, don't forget to stop by the persons blog occasionally (or often) and leave a comment. :-)

To find bloglines go to bloglines homepage. When you get there you'll find a "sign up now" sign in the centre of the page. Click on that and it will take you through a very simple registration process and then away you go - start adding those blogs! :-)

If you use bloglines and have another feature you enjoy, drop by and add a comment to let others know about it.

Technorati For Beginners

2007-11-25T15:34:00.000+10:30

Not all that long ago I had never heard of Technorati. I didn't know it existed and I had no idea what it was all about. I still have no idea what it is all about. LOL. So why am I writing a blog post about it?

Well, it does seem to matter to those who are very serious bloggers. By that I mean those who are working hard to increase their readerships, their rankings and anything else related to blogging that I also have no idea about.

When I began a separate blog for my blogroll, an anonymous commenter pointed out that in order for anyone to get any benefit from my blogroll, it was important that I claimed that blog through technorati.

So, for those of you who wish to remain "little fish" in the blogpond -I say "go for it". BUT, you might like to take the time to join technorati AND claim your blog so that when you add blogs to your blogroll or mention another blogger, it shows up there.

BUT, there's an even more FUN reason to "play" on the technorati site. It can tell you WHO is talking about your blog. If anyone else links to your blog, it will show up on your technorati page (if you click on the "Authority:whatever number you are" link under your blog it will take you to a page that lists all the places your blog has been mentioned (via a link).

Mostly you'll probably find your friends blogs and the blogs of those you read and interact with regularly. It can be an interesting way to find out who is reading your blog too. I have found the blogs of some of my readers who have perhaps mentioned me in their blogroll but I wasn't aware of that fact. In some cases, I wasn't even aware of the blog at all. I know I myself haven't gone around letting all the people on my blogroll know that I've added them there.

You may also come across some quite funny links. For instance, I discovered I had been linked to under a post titled "How Hair Transplant Surgery is Performed". LOL. I even went there and read the post and I still can't quite understand why I've been linked to. It had very little to do with hair transplant surgery and something to do with internet marketting of some description. Naturally, I'm not complaining about the link. The more links the better really. :-)

Technorati is also one of the reasons why it's nice to actually link to other bloggers when you're talking about them. I know, setting up links can be painful when you just want to run off a quick post. They're certainly not essential but they are a nice thing to do for other bloggers. Apart from helping readers of your blog to find the blog you are talking about - it does give bloggers other benefits (like helping their authority on Technorati).

Joining technorati is quite simple. Just go to www.technorati.com and then click on "join". Once you've done that you can go through the claim process for your blog. It's been a while since I joined but I'm pretty sure it guides you through the process when you first join. If you have any trouble, let me know and I'll see if I can help (be warned - my knowledge is rather limited).

I realise this is a very simplified post when it comes to explaining technorati. I guess I'm coming from the viewpoint that perhaps I'm not the only person who started blogging with barely a clue of what the blogworld really is all about. Sometimes I have found myself too overwhelmed reading the more "technical" or in-depth explanations of some of the blogging basics. So I'm hoping this is helpful to someone out there. :-)

Blog Review: OzStudentSaver

2007-11-24T10:15:00.000+10:30

The title on this blog reads: "Extravagance on a Budget". Sounds rather promising. :-)

One of the things that really stood out to me was how clear and uncluttered this blog is. I love the choice of layout, especially the way the 3rd column has a slightly different colour background, allowing a differentiation between the 2 sidebars.

Another interesting element on this blog was a list of recent posts at the bottom of the page, with a partial feed for each one, allowing a new reader to quickly browse these posts and choose to read any that sound interesting or relevant to their own interests. A great idea for encouraging a new reader to browse past posts.

Clearly, the emphasis of the blog is that of finding ways to cut costs and live frugally - without necessarily feeling like you have to go without the things in life you love.

Currently the most common content is that of gardening with some lovely clear photo's of the bloggers own garden. I particularly like the photo's showing container gardening - making it clear that ANYONE can grow something themselves.

I also thought the Aldi product reviews were a fantastic idea for those who might be considering trying an Aldi store and uncertain as to the quality of their products. In fact, it's an idea I myself might "pinch" as part of my "reducing the grocery budget" series. :-) Not for Aldi as we don't get Aldi here but for the more common generic branded products that I use.

WHAT WOULD I DO DIFFERENTLY IF THIS WERE MY BLOG?

* I found the use of a small heading and large advertisement in the header a little bit off-putting. I think it is something I would get used to but it drew my attention away from the blog and made it hard to quickly ascertain what I was looking at. My concern would be that a first time visitor might not take the time to move past that and move on quickly to another blog.

* At the moment the blog is a little light on content. Having been started in July, there are around 33 posts currently available to read. I prefer to read blogs with regularly updated information so wouldn't like to see any less than the 10 posts per month that seems to be the current level of posting. Some of the pages offered are currently blank and there is very little information in the blue coloured sidebar.

* I noticed a number of comments by readers had gone unacknowledged by the blogger. It may well be that they had been responded to privately or via the commenters own blog. I like to see the interaction between the blogger and the reader through the comments section of the blog so would prefer to see more comments made by the blogger.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS AND RATING

While it is clear that this is a blog still in it's setting up stages, I think it holds a lot of promise as being a blog providing lots of information in a clear and relaxing manner. Overall I found it a joy to read.

Rating: I'm going to rate this blog a 3-star with the potential to become a 5-star blog!

You can find this blog here.

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN

This is my first blog review I've ever written. I'd really appreciate some feedback as to what people thought. Was it informative enough? Interesting enough? Accurate? Please let me know what you think. :-)

Starting Afresh

2007-11-23T08:44:00.000+10:30

Well the best laid plans and all that guff..... I've decided to solve my comments problem the only way I know how. Start a new blog. LOL. This one does have comments enabled (well the other one did too, it just refused to acknowledge that fact).

Bear with me as it may take me a couple of days to get my blogroll listed here. *sigh* Yes, I'm SUPPOSED to be working on my nanowrimo novel!!!!! Or cleaning the house...... or something!!!!

Why start yet another blog? Well, I enjoy blogging and I enjoy reading people's blogs. Even more so, I enjoy people reading what I have to say. I know, it's an ego thing. I'll admit it. LOL. I've now been blogging at my original blog for twelve months and in that time I've learnt a lot and met a lot of wonderful people.

One of the struggles I've faced in my blogging journey is how to get noticed in such a HUGE blogworld. I really do feel like a teeny tiny fish swimming in a very big blogpond. So one of the things I'd like to do with this particular blog is write reviews on blogs. Not from an "expert" point of view but simply from a "reader" point of view.

If you would like me to write a review for your blog, please leave a comment. I'll be starting with those first and once I'm through those, I will begin doing "unauthorised" reviews as well. :-) My intention is to be honest in my opinions of each blog that I review without being brutal. :-)

What I can't believe is that this is my 3rd blog!!!! I was NEVER going to be one of those people with multiple blogs. LOL. Obviously I have a LOT more to say than I ever thought. However, because this is my 3rd blog and because blog reviews take some time to do properly, I don't intend to be posting to this blog every day. For that reason, I would recommend those of you interested in reading this blog on a regular basis add it to a reader of some kind. That way you'll know when a post has been written and save yourself frustration over having to visit multiple times before you actually come across something new to read. :-)

If you don't already have a reader, I like to use bloglines. You can subscribe to this blog in bloglines by clicking this button:

My apologies to those who have been caught up in the difficulties I've experienced in the past few days. Hopefully we'll be all set now. LOL. For those who were kind enough to respond to my poll on the other blog, do you mind terribly responding again here? Thank you.