What I've Learned in 100 Blog Posts

This is my 100th blog post and it's nice to reflect on upon what I've learned through the 100 posts. So I thought I would share some of this reflection I've been experiencing as I read some of my posts.

1. Blogging looks so easy, but it's not! There is a lot of time, work and effort that goes into creating a solid blog that people actually want to read.
2. There is no easy way to get your blog on the web and you can't do it by yourself. Find and use services like FeedBurner and Digg to get your blog out there in an efficient manner, easy to use manner.
3. Explore and research before you write. There is nothing worse than thinking you are ahead of the world of blogging on a topic and you only come to realize that it's old news and what you are saying is bunch of crap!
4. Provide productive help to fellow bloggers that are asking for feedback.
5. Feedback is something to cherish but don't let it rule your life.
6. Subscribers are great!
7. EVERYONE needs a break now and then!
8. Try to write everyday, but understand that it is not necessary and should sometimes not happen.
9. Write about quality material that you feel you can help someone else understand or find interest in.
10. Find a niche that you can add something to and stick with it!
11. 100 blog posts is not an easy benchmark to hit. It seems like most blogs fall short of 20 posts.
12. Just because you can use large words correctly does not mean that everyone can understand them.
13. Write because you enjoy writing and sharing ideas, not because you feel you have to.
14. Build relationships with other bloggers through sites like Bloggst, FuelMyBlog and any of the other hundreds of sites for bloggers to share and help spread their blog.
15. Don't forget that blogging is not your job unless it is!
16. Have a sense of humor and make it enjoyable for your readers to read what you have to say.
17. Challenge your readers to step outside the box and explore what you are saying.
18. Offer something to readers if you happen to have something they want.
19. Explore new ways to express yourself in your blog. DON'T BECOME GENERIC!
20. Have a great day!

A Baffling Incoming Link with No Actual Link! PLAGIARISM!

I've been reading of errors occurring within the FeedBurner service that is used by so many bloggers and websites as a whole. The most notable of these is a huge hit count on a hacky sack site that normally receives a very minimal number of hits. Then I checked my FeedBurner dashboard and found something interesting as well!

I had one incoming link (a click from a different websites that has a direct link to my own blog) that came from an absolutely huge site known The Wall Street Journal. This caught my attention immediately.

The blog post that had this incoming link was about a possible collapse of the music industry and can be found here.

Several ideas started running through my head:

1. Why would anyone at The Wall Street Journal read or care what I have to say?

2. What did they like about me so much for them to even mention my blog?

3. This is absolutely amazing but I'm going to be a little disappointed if this is a fluke.

So I set out to try to find answers to these questions. What did I find? Nothing. I went to the supposed page that my incoming link came from and I found that my blog, name and topic for that post had no link point anywhere. I checked the blog section, articles of note and just about anything that I could think of and found nothing.

So what happened here? Does anyone have any clue? Was this an error on FeedBurner's part? Is The Wall Street Journal utilizing other blogs without providing links? If so, we might have an issue of plagiarism on our hands!

If anyone has any idea or possible speculation as to how and/or why this happened let me know. I would love to hear it!

Don't forget to link up and subscribe to this blog!

Have a great day!

Confusion of Feedburner

As I've been getting back into my blog and working to develop strong posts that spark some interest, I've noticed something that had me baffled but not has me delighted about a service I used called FeedBurner.

FeedBurner is an RSS service provided that is really the whole package of everything that a blogger could ask for. I can see how many subscribers I have. How many readers each day. What the most popular blogs. What RSS services everyone uses and what the top clicks in and out of the blog are.

This service is just AWESOME!

My concern at the start extended from the fact that I found that quite a few of the subscribers are actually search bots for most of the major RSS blog sites such Feedster, Google, Yahoo, Bloggster, Blo.gs, Technorati and FeedBurner itself. I thought this was something of concern because I didn't have actual people reading my blog, but rather a bunch of bots that scan the Web for updates in blogs and then posts them in their central webpage.

Then I realized that this was great because now my blog is getting posted on ten other sites with no work at all. All I have to do is work on strong titles for my posts, have a solid content within the body and make sure my keywords stand out well.

Because I've done that, I've watched my hits climb to 20 hits a day and my subscribers grow even further! It's great! I love it!

Thank you FeedBurner! You are a great service and I can't thank you enough for the amazing product you have published!

Let's keep the momentum going: if you like my blog, subscribe, link up, leave comments and just read.

Thanks and have a great day!

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