Should I Move to my own Domain?

I am writing quite a few different blogs now, on very different topics. I've had several people tell me that should move to my own domains and dump blogger.com.




When I ask why, no one has any really good reasons. "You'll make more money!" Really, where are the statistics for that? "People don't trust blogspot.com blogs!" Really, who doesn't? I read plenty of blogspot blogs. I know a lot of people who read blogspot blogs.




The only argument that I can give some credence to is that if blogger shuts down for some reason, I would be in trouble. That part is true. I don't think google is going to shut down blogger in the near future and I am not sure that blogging is what I plan to do in the long term.




What do you think? Are you afraid to use blogger as a blog platform? Why? If you are using blogger, are you nervous about it at all?

blog blogging

Getting hits on your blog

Everyone wants to get more hits on their blog. I am trying a new service as an experiment. You may have heard of it, Blogrush.




With Blogrush, you sign up and add your blog. They give you some javascript to add to your blog. The widget will display 5 links related to the subject of your blog. Each time someone views your blog, you get a "credit". That means that for each page view, your blog will show up in someone else's widget.




I've already gotten a few hits from the service. I plan to give it some time and see if it's worth the real estate it takes up.




If you want to sign up, do me a favor and please use my referral link. You will still get your credits but I will get additional credits each time your page is loaded. My referral link is http://www.blogrush.com/r32050784




Thanks,




LewisC

blog blogging

AnswerTips Are Enabled

I'm trying an experiment. I have enabled Answers.com's AnswerTips. Do you have a question about a word on this blog? Just double click the word and see what happens.




You should get a pop up like the image to the left. You can click on any word on the blog (any word at all) and get a definition and some information about that word.




Is this something you find useful? The goal of something like this is to keep your readers on your site as long as possible. If someone can get information without ever leaving the site, you meet your goal.




The downside to a tool like this, and it's not really a downside per se, is that if people don't know it's available, they aren't likely to try double clicking on random blogs.




But, if it does become popular, you'll be supporting a neat feature. I call this an experiment because I am seeing if it slows my page down at all. If it doesn't, I would have to call it a winner.

blog blogging

The Ultimate List of Freebies on the Web

If you haven't heard of Mashable, here is the blurb from the site:

With in excess of 5 million monthly pageviews, Mashable is the world's largest blog on social networking.




What does that mean? It means sites like MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, hi5, Piczo, Bebo and YouTube.




If you're launching a new social network, or a tool that plugs into MySpace and the rest, Mashable wants to know!




Mashable is written by Pete Cashmore, a new media expert. It ranks among the Top 100 blogs worldwide.

Anyway, beyond that, it is a site that makes lists. The top 40 this, the top 10 that, etc. Today I stopped by for a look and I got the ultimate time waster, 5000+ Resources to Do Just About Anything Online. There goes the rest of the weekend.




This post has just about everything you can imagine. Keeping in the spirit of this blog, here are a few of the topics covered:

• 6 Key Ways to Measure Your Blog's Success


• 30+ AJAX-Powered WordPress Plugins


• 50+ Ways to Track Website Traffic


• 120+ Resources for Bloggers


• 40+ Firefox Add-ons for High Speed Blogging


• 40+ Free Blog Hosts


• 70+ Podcasting Tools and Resources


• 50 Great Widgets For Your Blog


• 120+ RSS Resources


• 30+ Tools For Working With Wordpress Posts


• 30+ 1-Column WordPress Themes


• 30+ WordPress 2-Column Themes


• 30+ WordPress 3-Column Themes


• 50+ Tools For The WordPress Admin


• 50+ WordPress Plugins for Multimedia


• 30+ WordPress Plugins To Get More Blog Readers


• 30+ Tools to Turn WordPress into a Personal Hub


• 17 WordPress Plugins For AdSense


• 30+ WordPress Plugins for Statistics

And that's just the first section. It also has sections for Communications tools, photo & video editing, productivity tools, web browsing and development, search and bookmarking. Come to think of it, this post at mashable has just about put me out of business. I guess I'll have to do some hard thinking to come up with topics that haven't already been covered.




Thanks Mashable.




LewisC

blog blogging

What is your blogging routine?

I am curious as to when you prefer to blog and what motivates you to blog regularly. I like to blog as soon as I get up in the morning. Due to my work schedule, I tend to do a lot of my blogging on weekends and at night but my preferred time is as soon as I wake up and am fresh.




I don't need silence when I work. I tend to be very focused when writing and can close out most sounds. My wife and son have a knack for interrupting me though so at times I put on the headphones and play some quiet jams.




I am motivated by news stories and blogs I read. I read a lot of magazines and news papers and have subscribed, via RSS, to several press release sites that relate to my interests.




I used write the About New Orleans blog, and I wrote an entry there 5 days a week. I usually wrote most of those on sunday morning before the rest of the family was awake. I do the rest of my blogs whenever I get the chance.




So what is your schedule? What is your routine? What do you do that helps you stick to that schedule?




Thanks,




LewisC

blog blogging routine schedule tips advice