Do You Blog Like You Hula?

Baby Boomers, Hula hoops and Blogging

Baby Boomers, Hula hoops and Blogging

Baby Boomers-

How many of you are blogging like you handle a hula hoop?

  • Some of us have forgotten how to hula and seldom consider picking it up again.  I have a few blogs that have been neglected. Sure I used to be consistant and kept my stats up like a hula on my hips. But now I need to go back and practice once again.
  • Some of us get that hula on our hips and as soon as it starts losing momentum and slides down we just don’t know how to scoop down and bring it back up. I got hacked two times. It is not a good thing. I was ready to let that blog go to blog heaven. But then I decided not to give up and picked it up and kept blogging.  NOTE: That’s why I am taking Cathy Perkins  security workshop to prevent that blog from slipping off my hips again.
  • Some of us have never had a hula on our hips. Not that you don’t want to but just need someone to push it around your waist until you can keep it going. Well, you may be feeling like that when it comes to blogging. That’s why I am doing a “hold you hand” blog class to get your hula going.

Oh, did I mention that some folks can work the hula hoop on their neck and arms?

5 Twitter Video Applications You Can Use Right Now!

I just love the folks at Mashable. They have a great post sharing five Twitter applications for using video. Now these applications can be used to create video tweets but some of them can also be used to manage photos. How cool is that.

I just posted a video this morning using Twiddeo but I am excited about trying the other applications. So enjoy this post featuring Twitter video applications.

Major Bugs In WordPress Version 8 Have Been Exterminated

I just read where some  of the major bugs in WordPress version 8 have been exterminated by the WordPress Pest Control. Well, not real bugs but those pesting errors that prevented folks like me from upgrading to the new version.

So, now it is safe to move to the new version using version 2.8.1. Since I am not a super expert in WordPress I will share an article with you that helped me to understand the type of bugs that were fixed.
His site seems very good so I hope to visit again.

Now, for those of you who have no clue to what I am talking about. Allow me to explain.

iIf you are using a WordPress self hosted blog platform you are given the option of upgrading to a new version. Now, there was a time that I found upgrading hard. I downloaded a plug in called wp-upgrade and that was a wonderful thing.

However, more recently, I have started using a really stupidly simple tool on my host called simplescripts. This script is just like the name it is simple. All I do now it go to the control panel of my host, http://www.bloggingforboomers.com/bluehost and click on simple scripts and they prompt me to upgrade. They even give me the option to view my site after it is upgraded to see how it looks. If there is an issue it allows you to go back to the way it was.

Pay close attention to the instructions  to deactivate all your plugins before you upgrade. Do not take chances. If you want me to do a short video on this let me know.

Let’s Talk About Vlogging

rayphotographing

Video blogging  is also known as vblogging and vlogging. It is becoming more and more popular these days. It is just like posting text to a blog but instead you are posting mini videos.

Blog Hosts/Services

Storing videos online takes up a lot of  space. The files are usually large. However, many sites offer free video file hosting. Now, Google provides a search engine just for videos. They also provide a place to store your videos, and video viewer.

In addition check out these other resources:

Freevlog

Our Media

Putlife.com

vblog Central

Vimeo

Video Blogging Directories and Communities

You will learn lots if you hang out in places that just talk about one thing like video blogging. You can start by following on Twitter the videoblogging group on yahoo.com and also joining the group.

Take time to visit:

Mefeedia

Vidblog

Vloggercon

Videoblogging.info

Videoblogging Universe

Promise me that you will post the links to your newly created video sites as a comment to this post. If you already have a vlog please share it.

7 Ways To Put The B Back In Your Blogging Part 5

This entry is part [part not set] of 7 in the series 7 Ways to Put the B Back in Blogging

Blog Your Book!

You can not only create a book with your blogging but use your blog to promote your existing book. Now, that should get your juices flowing.

One of the reasons I am a big fan of creating and fine tuning your categories. Those blog categories can become the chapters for your book! So take a few minutes to review a short video I posted on rosiesblogclass.

I will probably write more about this but here is an excellent blog post by blogger and author, Edwin Crozier. He shares 6 Reasons to blog your book. Be sure to read the comments that were made to his post. They have some meaty insights.

Also, check out this blog post by Cathy Perkins on Alex  Mandossian’s blog about blogging your book.

The ever popular and profoundly essential blogging book By Darian Rowse, Problogger, is the result of blog posts.

So, hopefully, this will be enough to get you thinking. Of course if anyone would like to add more insights it would be most welcomed. Meanwhile, DO A BLOG POST NOW!

7 Ways To Put The B Back in Blogging-Part 4

This entry is part [part not set] of 7 in the series 7 Ways to Put the B Back in Blogging

Courtesy of The US Mint Store

What Are Your Interests?

Blog Your Interests

Do you have an interest in anything you want to share with others? Are you learning something new that you want to document? Are you excited about this new interest and want to keep the thrill alive?

This year I got interested in coin collecting? How? Well I had promised someone for two years I would learn more about coin collecting so I could help her sell her coins. I knew that she could just take them to a dealer but I also knew that it helps if you know a little before you go. Why? Because not all dealers are the same. I did not want her to take a rare coin to a shop and have someone devalue it.

Well, to make a long story short,  I started reading books on  coin collecting. Then I found a dealer who actually  started to teach me about coin collecting. ( I have spoken to several dealers but he has been the best and most patient.) This baby boomer is  hooked. I am more hooked on error coins.For me the idea of finding one is better than the lottery.

Now, what did I do? You guessed it. I started a blog on coin collecting. Now, I did not position myself as an expert but someone who is learning about coin collecting and wanted to  share with others as I learn.You can view a post I just made tonight on error coins on this site called Baby Boomer Pocket Change.

So what does this mean for you? You can start now to reflect on an interest that you have. What are you reading? What are you learning?What are your learning goals?

Tip#1 If you are reading books on your topics you can share information about those books as an affiliate link in your blog!

Tip#2  If you want to create an ebook or special report you can after several posts by clearing defining your categories and create a pdf document from your posts.

Tip #3 If you are in any social network you can join groups related to your blog interest and send traffic to your site.

So after you read this please reflect on your interests.  Remember the more you are learning about that area of interest the more blogging you will do that will reinforce what you learn. Who knows, you just might become an expert.

Simple Yet Powerful Twitter Tips for Twitterland And Your Twitter Town

Hello Twitter Twitter Town-How are you Today?

Hello My Little Twitter Town-How Are You Today?

I am still learning each time I read a Tweet on Twitter or make a mistake. Yet, there are bloggers like Problogger who has mastered some great Twitter techniques. For example, I attempt to post things that folks that follow me might want to hear. But I am careful to take time and retweet interesting tweets that are appearing at that moment.

When you think about it Twitter is just like face to face discussions in a group. When I facilitate a group I am careful to encourage the silent folks in the group to say something. At the same time I try to discourage domination by one or two people in the group.

In addition, most groups work best when the size is small and not huge. So, I am not under compulsion to have a BIG TWITTER LIST.

Well, I never want to be the person who just talks about me, me and more me in a group.  Nor, do I want to be the quiet person all the time that does not feel my content has worth. So, those things stay on my mind when I am on Twitter.

Of course, I must admit, sometimes I go on Twitter when I feel like the pixels in my brain are frozen from fatigue. Then Twitter becomes therapy.

Enjoy this post by Darren Rowse who is one of the most authentic bloggers I know that makes real money blogging. When he talks about Twitter and blogging-I listen.

7 Ways to Put the B Back In Your Blogging-Part 3

This entry is part [part not set] of 7 in the series 7 Ways to Put the B Back in Blogging

Blog With Pictures

As Long As There Is Life-Hold On!

As Long As There Is Life-Hold On!

This picture reminds me of blogging. This weed is working itself around a steel gate. It has decided that it wants to live. How often do we see our blog dying because of lack of traffic or your decreasing interest or energy?

This weed is a powerful reminder to keep finding ways to hold on to the reason you started blogging. As long as that blog has life on the internet KEEP BLOGGING.

I am challenging myself to start using more of the pictures I am taking in my blogs. The question is why?

  • Pictures add color and excitement to your blogging. .
  • You can make comparisions or contrasts with the image and your blog posts
  • Pictures can motivate you and your reader.
  • It will motivate you to take more pictures.

Meanwhile, if you want to read a short tutorial on how to add pictures check out one of my sites I use for folks I am coaching when they are just getting started in blogging.  In this post I am using WordPress.com and the info works on WordPress.org also. If you want help with Blogger let me know.

You can read that short poston adding pictures to your blog from your computer right now.

Any comments?

A New Way to Promote Your Facebook Page

I found a really cool way to promote my Facebook page with a short link. No, I am not talking about Tinyurl, or Snipurl. Whereas both of them are excellent for shortening that long Facebook page url, I am using a WordPress plugin that keeps the name of my site in the url but sends you to my Facebook page.

See here is the link to my Facebook page on Blog Coaching for Baby Boomers  http://www.bloggingforboomers.com/5h6

Now I place this in my Twitter tweet and it works wonders.

So, If you want to know how I did it, which is really simple. I am holding a short teleseminar session for fans of my Facebook page. All you have to do is become a fan. The session will only be 10 minutes on June 9 at 9:00 pm (EST). I will broadcast the conference line number to all the fans on tomorrow during the day on June 9, 2009. And don’t worry if you can’t be on the call the link to the mp3 will be, you already know, on the Facebook page.

I must give Kudos to Cathy, The WordPress Wizard for telling us about this during one of her FREE teleseminars one Wednesday.

PS Please note that you can change the link. For example I can change the link to say http://www.bloggingforboomers.com/facebookpage.  And to show you that it is true I am changing it as soon as I finish the teleseminar. But since I already broadcasted the prior link use this link to connect and click on JOIN THIS FAN PAGE.  So use this link

http://bloggingforboomers.com/5h6

7 Ways to Put the B Back In Your Blogging-Part 2

This entry is part [part not set] of 7 in the series 7 Ways to Put the B Back in Blogging

BLOG THE TRUTH

Now most of us always believe we are always sharing the facts. Yet, there may be times that we are merely sharing what moved us emotionally without checking out the facts.  When we blog reactions it is true that we will get a lot of comments that may counter our “reactive statements” . And it is true that the search engines may just love it. However, at what cost should we share information just for search engine juice?

Take a few minutes to read this post, written today on the Baby Boomer Knowledge Center on Spreading Misinformation on the Internet.

I firmly believe that when we take out time to assess our information sources and realize the power of our posts that it will make us better baby boomer bloggers. What do you think?

And please note that there are many times we may, as the article points out, spread information with the intention of helping. But as bloggers, we have the ability to post a quick retraction when we find out the truth. Not only that, we should edit the older post with the retraction as well.

What do you think?