New Blogs Need Nurturing and Old Blogs Need Healing

Posted on January 17, 2020 by blogcoach

My hubby and I have several blogs. Some are new start ups and some are older. There is a tendency to get excited and devote more time to that infant blog. You want to stroke it feed it good food and share the vision for the future.

But what I am realizing is that the older blogs can get lost and broken when time is not given to them also. The older blogs need plugin , them and version updates. Plus, if you have not been there in a while comments good and spammy might be waiting for you. So just like children and grand children we have to find a way to make time to heal the ones that are hurting and help the new ones to shine.

If this is not done we become bad parents. I have not been the best parent lately. I have been involved with other projects and neglecting some of my older blogs. As I review some of them I have to decide if I should put them up for adoption or let go of the url? That seems so harsh but if I am not going to keep them tuned up is that fair?

I want all my sites to have a hope for the future to help others with their purpose. So this year I am determined to work more on my older sites as well as the newer ones. How about you?

7 Blogging Topic Areas That All Start With “P” For Beginner Bloggers or Those Starting a New Blog

Posted on July 30, 2019 by blogcoach

This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series 7 "P''s for New Blog Ideas

PASSION -strong and barely controllable emotion.

What are you passionate about? Is it politics, religion, children, a cause? The list goes on and it is sometimes therapeutic to write about it. In addition, sometimes your passion can influence someone else, hopefully positively, after they read your posts.

Please take some time to list your passions. Key the topic areas into google and put the word “blogs” after it to see what others are writing about related to the same passions.

Also, please be sure to post your comments and links to your blogs if you already have one.

Baby Boomer Bloggers Wanted As Guest Bloggers on Blogging For Boomers

Posted on June 12, 2019 by blogcoach

Let’s face it Baby Boomers Have a LOT to say and share. I invite you to take part in being a guest blogger on this site. I am looking for content on the things you are passionate about. (No porn and other things that might offend others will not post)

Do you have hobbies, expertise, experience, reflections, business ideas, plus?

If yes, please contact me in the comments and let’s make this happen.Be sure to leave a link to one of your sites in the comment.

Have You Blogged Any Insights About Holiday Sadness?

Posted on December 23, 2018 by blogcoach

I want to share some insights from a fellow baby boomer who, hopefully, will soon be blogging. She is one of the co-directors of the Echoes Grief Center in Orange, NJ. She also runs a writing group there to help others deal better with their grief. I predict a lot of bloggers will evolve from this group.

Please feel free to share your insights and links to any articles or blog posts you have written. As baby boomers we have experienced so much death, sadness and

Let Someone Know You are Praying for them

SADNESS AND WINTER HOLIDAYS by Charlene Mason-Reese MSW, LCSW

Gaiety, joy, good wishes appear to dominate the weeks from Thanksgiving until New Year. People want to be happy, families want Thanksgiving meal to be full of good memories, because family members have not seen each other in sometime. Their mouths are already tasting the comforting foods they know will be served; stuffing themselves, telling stories of remember when…..

The watching of the Thanksgiving Macy Day Parade, marking the end of fall and seeing Santa bring in the winter season, along with the holiday cheer. In the United States, Santa brings in remembrances of many holidays, even for those that don’t celebrate Christmas. To name a few Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Felice Navidad, and there are others that author does not wish to discount, but these days bring feelings of joy and grief. For some because the realization of their loss that may occurred yesterday or ten years ago. It brings the challenge of what does one do with those feelings? “I cried it out, right?” There are no more tears to cry. No one wants to hear about my sadness, they are talking about what bargains they are going to pick up Black Friday.

The stress of Black Friday, a holiday all its own and the special meaning it is given, because each night the newscasters tell us how many shopping days there are until Christmas, now that tightens the noose, because that is a reminder of all that has not been done. This does not take the people into the season over the edge, because the joy that is anticipated of watching the children open the hard fought for gifts, the long lines stood on. The looking and waiting for parking spaces, on to have someone else pull in it-remember it is time for good will to all men

There are segments of the population that all of this happiness, the season especially !….makes their world seem even dimmer – that is the people who GRIEVE for what they have lost.

The loss may have been recent or may be one that other people feel they should have gotten a handle on, the death occurred so long ago. It is difficult to be in around people who are openly expressing their happiness and then there is the person who feels as though their heart has broken and the pieces are free floating. As the person who is experiencing these feelings, you also have feelings of guilt. You don’t want to take away the joy others are feeling, but you really can’t understand how the world is continuing as normal, while your universe has shattered. Who can you go to, people may be tired of hearing about your loss, but don’t they know, don’t they see that earth has stopped, it is no longer revolving around the sun.

Family, friends are you aware of the grieving person amongst you? Are you aware that they are sitting at the table – you see them, but they see an empty seat where the deceased used to be, even if it is occupied? Yes, others at the table may also feel the absence of the departed, but grief is unique to each person, it depends on many things. For one, it depends on the relationship of who died: spouse mother, father, child, aunt, uncle, grandparent, or someone who was a confidant.

The person at the table who is suffering the acute grief has burden of not showing the feeling, but putting on a mask and responding, “I’m okay, everything is fine”.

How do all of you get through this “happy season”?

One important way is to remember the person, where appropriate. Talk about the deceased, they are a part of the “remember when stories”. It is important not to act like they never existed or it is a “no no” to bring the name of the individual up in conversation.

Think of the good times, how the individual enriched the lives of those around them, how having him or her in your world for whatever amount of time they were in your life outweighs the sadness that is legitimately felt at this time. The loss and sadness may be so overwhelming right now, but it can get better. If we permit it the deep painful sadness will become more of a shadow, a fog. The memory of the love one keeps the best part of them alive. As long as they are remembered there is a terminal death, because they will always be with us, we will feel the love.

Which Goes First the Chicken or the Egg, The Picture or the Blog Post?

Posted on June 15, 2017 by blogcoach

How many times have you created a blog post but realized that you needed a picture? Or, you have a great picture and had to create a blog post just so you could show it off?

I strong believe that whether you locate the picture first and create a blog post around it or create the blog post and hunt for a picture that it does not matter. Both are challenging and the result is the same.

For this short post I created the post for it then looked for the picture. I did not have a picture of a chicken and egg together. Nor did I have a live chicken I could do a quick photo shoot. So I decided to share a picture of a chess board. To me blogging is much like playing chess. It needs a strategy and the one with the best strategy wins the game!

Which order works best for you and why?

Are You Using ‘ADMIN’ as Your User Name? If Yes “Danger, Danger Will Robinson”

Posted on April 21, 2013 by blogcoach

Changing Your User Name Can Help Protect Your Blog

If you are still using ‘admin’ as your user name in your blog login then imagine that robot from the TV series Lost in Space warning you of danger. Now your name may not be Will Robinson (The young boy in the series) but imagine that you hear that robot calling your name. I did the other day when I signed into my blog.

I knew that there was a danger in not changing that user name but I got lazy. I have sat through webinars, telesminars and ever read that using ADMIN as your user name could make you a target for hackers! It is so true and I have been hacked more than once. So I resolved to change my user name and I survived the task.

The Easy Way I Changed My ADMIN to Another User Name

I REPLACED MYSELF. I was listed as the ADMINISTRATOR for my blog with an ADMIN user name. I signed in ,with what I hoped would be the last time, with that oh so obvious ADMIN. Then I tried to delete myself as a user. DUH, it would not delete me because I was signed in. Ha Ha. So I had ADD A NEW USER then sign out and sign back in as the new user. Then, and only then, could I delete that unwise user with ADMIN as the handle.

Ok, here are the steps:

1. Sign in with your existing user name and password

2. Create a new user with the same role ADMINISTRATOR.

NOTE: I had to use a different email address because each user has to have different email address

3. Log out of your blog

4. Log in again but this time as the new user.

5. Delete the old “admin” user and assign all posts created by that user to your new user. The system will ask you what you want to do with the posts and links owned by the “admin” user. When asked what to do with the posts and links owned by the “admin” user, select the “Attribute all posts and links to” option, choose the new user from the drop down list, and click “Confirm Deletion”.

Once the user is removed, you have the option to change the new user’s email address if a different one was used to create it. Oh, and be sure that when you choose that new user name that you do not use your name. That is just toooo easy for the energetic hacker.

Let me know when you change that user name!

How to Get Dynamic Traffic to Your Blog-Part 3

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Ron Whitaker

This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series How To Get Dynamic Traffic To Your Blog

This is the 3rd post in a series by Guest Blogger Ron Whitaker

Well, friends, we’ve reached the end…the end of my little series, that is.

In Part 1, I discussed the importance of keyword research before writing and publishing a blog post.

In Part 2, I provided some best practices on where to include those keywords in your blog posts.

Now, in Part 3, I’ll provide some tips that I’ve learned over the past few months about how to drive traffic to your website once you’ve completed the above steps.

But first, a question?

Were you popular in high school?

Were you the popular cheerleader or jock who everyone wanted to hang out with? You know, the one who got invited to every party and activity?

If you were, I envy you!

Granted, I had friends, but definitely didn’t fall within the cool crowd.

But that was then…and we’re in a new age: the Internet age! And the good news is, the game’s changed!

Whoo-hoo!

So today, I’m going to show everyone who reads this post how they can be cool and popular online.

Is it easy?

No. It WILL take work, but it’s doable! And the rewards can be fantastic!

What does being popular have to do with driving traffic to my blog?

Good question.

Let’s delve into that topic with another question:

Thinking back to those popular kids in high school, how did you know they were popular?

Maybe they were nice?

Maybe they dressed in the coolest, hippest fashion of the time?

Maybe they knew all the words to the latest popular songs?

What exactly did they do or say that clued you in that they were popular?

Perhaps the famous quote by John Kuebler will provide a hint: Show me your friends and I will show you your future.

The playwright Euripides also provides a clue: Every man is like the company he is wont to keep.

Thinking back to the question above—how did you know they were popular?—the obvious answer to tell that those kids were popular was by the quantity of friends they surrounded themselves with.

So, there it is in a nutshell. They had friends. And lots of them!

But what does that have to do with driving traffic to your website?

How to be popular on the Internet

Well, if you want to get traffic to your website, you’ve got to be popular on the web!

How?

Just like in high school, you knew the popular kids were popular by the number of friends they had, the same principle applies to the Internet!

Image courtesy of suphakit73 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Here’s the secret: search engines like Google recognize how “popular” your website is by the number of links from other websites that point to your website.

Show me a website that ranks high for a particular keyword in Google, and I can pretty much guarantee that that site has a fairly high number of links, also known as backlinks, pointing back to it from other websites from around the virtual world.

Great! I wanna be popular on the web and get links pointing back to my website. How do I do it?

There are many ways.

I’m going to focus on two in this post:

Guest blog posting
Blog commenting

Guest Blog Posting

So, what’s guest blog posting?

Well, it’s what I’m doing here! I don’t own Blogging for Boomers, Rosie does!

Though my website lies elsewhere in the virtual world, Rosie was kind enough to invite me to come on over here and do a series of guest posts.

What does guest blog posting do?

Several things.

Guest posting allows you to build relationships around the web. (Hint: make friends! The more you have, the more popular you become!)

Also, when you guest post on another blog, it allows you to create a link or two back to your own website.

How do you find blogs for guest posting?

As an example, say you have a budding blog centered around the topic of vintage auto restoration.

Head over to Google and perform a search like the following:

Auto restoration “write for us.”

What does this search operator do?

Image courtesy of stockimages / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It returns websites centered around auto restoration and that allow guest bloggers to post on their blogs (hence “write for us”).

Here are some other searches you can use to find blogs that allow guest bloggers on their sites. We’re still using our example of auto restoration as your business. You can replace “auto restoration” with keywords that are related to your own blog.

Auto restoration “guest post”
Auto restoration “guest blogger”
Auto restoration “submit an article”
Auto restoration “submit a blog post”

Those ought to get you started!

And here’s a hint, when you provide a blog post for another site, make sure it’s your best stuff! Show the world what you know about your topic! Sock it to ‘em!

You’ll make new friends along the way (becoming popular!), you’ll build credibility with a new audience, and you’ll get a sweet link (or two) back to your own blog.

Blog Commenting

What’s blog commenting?

Actually, I feel another story coming on!

Once upon a time there was a new website owner/blogger who wanted to start making friends around the webosphere.

He started commenting on blogs that were related to his own website, and who had audiences he was trying to reach as well.

One day he left a comment on a blog about blogging for boomers. Someone named Rosie noticed, replied to his comment, and invited him to post a blog series on her website.

The end.

And it all started with commenting on a blog!

Commenting on blogs simply means finding those blogs that are centered around topics similar to yours and then visiting them and posting comments at the end of posts.

It’s that simple, but I have a STRONG word of caution.

The first rule of commenting is when guest commenting make sure you enter “quality” comments.

Do NOT, under any circumstance, simply write “Nice post. Thanks.”

Just don’t go there!

When commenting, make sure your comments are heartfelt and really provide VALUE to the comments section. Provide a comment that offers a new point of view, or affirms through your experiences how you relate to the points that were made by the author.

In other words, provide quality comments.

You never know what might happen. You just may receive an invitation to guest post on that blog.

I did!

Do You Know How to Move Your WordPress Site to Another Host?

Posted on February 17, 2013 by blogcoach

Ok, maybe everything is just fine with your current host. That’s Great! However, stuff happens. Little things like the server goes down right before you are about to press PUBLISH. Oops, when the server comes back up only part of the post was saved.Well, that was ok but when it happens two more times in the upcoming weeks you wonder if you should investigate other options.

Or,

Everything is just dandy with your server but when you think about all 24 of your sites on one server, oh my. What happens if it goes down? It just might cut into your online action. My mom always said that” A poor mouse only has one hole to run in.”

Or,

You want to send more traffic to your other sites. So, yes you can write posts and link to another one of your sites to get some trackback action. But it sure looks good to Google and other roaming robots traveling from top search engines, if that traffic is coming from another IP address.

I currently use Bluehost and Hostgator. The support is simply amazing. But I wanted to share this critical and invaluable information from fellow Baby Boomer Heidi Caswell-just in case you ever need it. So please read the post below and keep it handy.

How to Move Your WordPress Blog to Another Server

How to be a Weekly Blogger-Insights From a Business Blogger

Posted on February 21, 2012 by blogcoach

Grab a cup of green tea and check out this video from a business blogger presenting at a WordPress conference.

Blogging For Boomers

Blogging tips, tools and timely updates for blogging baby boomers and jonesers

Tag Archives: blogging