Month: April 2011

Write the blog post that you want to read!

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ERMETH was one of first computers in Europe wh... Image via Wikipedia

Finding the Inspiration?

No one wants to write about something people would not want to write less alone come visit your blog.   Sometimes the only way to get inspired is to visit other blogs to get inspired.   It can be a difficult process to some but others it is easy.   It however depends on your writing ability and how you approach a topic.   We’ve all had those times when we need to come up with an idea and expand on it.  A lot of times when I write a blog post, I don’t come up with a title until I have wrote the post.   This is something that I have learned to do because it helps me find a good blog post name.   This is one of my tips for those who want to know how to blog.   I will give you several tips to help you

How Do I get Inspired?

I am sure some of you are wondering how I get inspired.   I am going to give you some important tips to blog and finding your topics:

  • Always think about Blog titles anywhere you go — This is something I always think about whenever I do anything from chatting with friends to working on someones computer.   I ask myself, “Is this a good blog topic?”, If you answer yes then you should write it down to use later on.

  • Dedicate so many hours a week to blogging — This is another important factor because without work you will not make any new readers come to your site.  I usually try to give myself an hour or two a day to write a blog post but some people will probably be different depending on how fast you type and what you write about.

  • Guest Blog — This also helps you get inspired and also brings you more readers to your new blog.  I want to bring more readers to my blog and I might decide to guest blog even more to bring more people here.

  • Find your passion — If you don’t have a passion, your readers will not see it and it will not draw more people to your blog.   The readers are coming to your blog for one reason or another.   That first impression can make or break you, so always right about things that you enjoy and know.

Don’t get Burned out!

This is also something that important to me and others.   I however don’t have a good way to prevent some blogs from having blog burnout.   I’d love to hear how you get past this little problem and help others get past that problem.  I know I have had that in the past and would love to learn new techniques to prevent that in the future.    How Do you prevent it?

Paul Sylvester

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Intro to Podcasting Part 2

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Station building and one of the towers of Mota... Image via Wikipedia

What is old is New Again!

In my previous post about podcasting, I talked about What is Podcasting and why you would want to podcast. These are some important questions that you must first want to answer before you start podcasting. It is one of the most terrifying things anyone could do but the most enjoyable after you do start podcasting. You can become an expert in your own right but just because you are podcasting doesn’t mean you know everything or to ignore the little guy.  You can learn at lot from other podcasters in your field or area.  It isn’t that you need to be afraid of the other guys but you should at least be working together and bringing other followers to your podcast.

How to Podcast!

Everyone who ever wanted  to podcast should do their research.   I happen to have done some research on the subject and also was part of several different podcasts.   Some of my most memorable podcasts were:

As you can see these are just a few of the podcasts that I was part of.   I really enjoyed them and I wanted to help those who wanted to start your own podcast.   The setup that Mike Smith has is something that only grows from the passion and dedication of his love of community.  It however is not the bare bones to say the least.   He has bought this equipment one piece at a time and you should really start off small and work your way to big.   So what are bare essentials?  It is just these things:

That is the Bare minium you will need to start podcasting.   It however isn’t going to be expensive but it will be time consuming.   So as you can tell some of this is going to be optional but others are required to podcast.   Most of this is just what you feel is needed for your podcast.  If your looking for an in depth article you can check out the how to podcast tutorials.   They give you some excellent advice on what it is required of you to podcast.

The Purpose of Podcast!

It isn’t hard to understand why anyone would podcast but if you are curious as to the purpose of podcasting, well I will explain it to you.   Before we had computers we had radio stations and before we had radio stations we had a campfire.   As you can see, we are always want to connect to other people through spoken words because it makes it more personable and real to us.   We all want to be a part of a community to learn something new, so that is where podcasting comes into play.   We can be driving our car and listen to a podcast like an audio book, and not be around a computer.   It seems more and more people are doing this while driving, and less and less listening to the radio.   I must say a good podcast keeps me driving for hours without having to turn the station.

Are you going to be a podcaster or are a podcaster.   I’d love to here your experiences.   Feel free to leave a comment and tell others how you got into the business of podcasting!

Paul Sylvester


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Will blog for money! How to make money blogging.

Paul1 Reply

Lugar de culto Image by piterart via Flickr

Everyone wants to make money Blogging

I bet everyone is looking to make money online. It isn’t always easy to blog or even what you want to blog about.  If your anything like me you want to make some kind of money for your hard work.    It depends on a lot of things to go right or at least to go in your favor.   I am here to talk about some of the more stuff than having a keyword or a niche per say.   I want to talk about other ways to draw your crowds to your site and why it isn’t just about the niche market but how your present it!

This is not going to be about just making money, because there are more than that to have to do to keep the revenue coming your way.   I intend to talk about what is important and why it is important.   Just because you have a blog and you can blog doesn’t necessary mean you will make money but it does give you one step closer!

It’s All About Presentation!

I say that because I know that just because you are blogging will not bring in money, but you have to get a high level of readers to want to help you succeed at making money.  When I talk about readers, I am talking about those who either link to your site or want to click your links to support your hard work.     These are the type of followers that can make or break your blog experience.  Just because you have followers doesn’t necessarily make for a great blog.   So what are the ways to make money, you might be asking?

Connect with your readers

I know on my other blog I have discuss time and time again.  In my experience you can make some money from just blogging but it depends on more than just blogging about money.   It isn’t always the easiest thing to do because more and more readers are quite picky on which blogs they will support and which ones they will not support.

I want to Connect with my readers again!

You’ve heard me right, I wanting to make that essential connection with my readers.    It isn’t going to be easy because of this being a new domain.   Some of my old readers have probably forgotten me or don’t even know that I have a new blog up and running.   Although it can’t be for me not trying to tell them.    That is why I am asking my current readers to tell your friends and family and let the ones that might of found me before through you.   So they can come back and comment about posts and become a regular visitor on my blog.   If you want this blog to become better, that is one way to do that.   Invite people, and tell family and friends about this blog.   You never know what will happen.   I also made it easier to book mark posts or recommend them to friends and family.   There is a new book marking tool at the top and bottom of each post, so you can recommend my site through email, and Facebook and other ways.   I do ask that you find a good post and click the Facebook like button.   This will also help people find my site and as always thank you for being a regular guest on my blog posts.

Paul Sylvester

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“When it rains, It pours!” : Ways to fight stress!

Paul

The Emotional Side of Job Search Image by danieljohnsonjr via Flickr

Your doing your usual stuff and the something happens.   You really don’t know what to think or do.   You could be in shock, or just disbelief.   I have had that happen last week.   I thought it would be fun to discuss this and give a few insights as to what I learned.

The back story

I was at work doing what I normally did to make the customers happy.   My job was one of those really good jobs where you would have to always listen to the customer and try to help resolve their problem(s).  It isn’t the easiest job in the world, and I bet most technicians would also agree that sometimes the customer can be down right mean or even rude to the technician just because they have no one else to yell at.  Last week I lost one of my dearest and most paying contracts, it isn’t easy to just sit still and wonder how will I pay bills now without this retainer client.   I bet Mike Smith has this problem all the time and probably worries about it every week when he losses a client like this.  Some of things that I want to know is how do others deal with stress.

Stress is a killer

I know I am not the only one who has to deal with the stress.   I do however wanted to come up with a way to help prevent some of the stress from happening.  According to some places, Stress can be a great motivator and also be our downfall in the long.   I say this not to scare people but to bring up some very important topics that I thought we should at least look at:

  • Stress is different for each person — Now I am not saying that some people don’t have stress but they do not show it very often if never.   You may never know that some person you are talking to is having a stress full day because they may never show the signs of being under stress.

  • Stress makes you grow older quicker —  Now this is something that I have felt in the past when I have more stress it makes me feel older and not like I used to be.   This also can be a bad side effect, because it will sometimes send people into a depressed state.

  • Stress can give your High Blood pressure —  I should know about this one because this has been my case for the few years.  This is something that I have had to deal with because of what all stress has been put under my belt the last few years.

Fighting Stress

So you have thought about it and have come to the conclusion that you have to much stress in your life.   You’re probably like me and want to reduce some of the stress that you are having right about now.   I know I hate stress and what it does to my body.   I wanted to share some ways to reduce the stress in your life so you can live a healthier and longer life.

  • Exercising —  This is one of those many found truths that if you exercise everyday, either by walking or do aerobics you can decrease the stress in your life in one way or another.  You should however do something once a day for at least an hour.   I have found walking on paths to be my best way to relieve stress .

  • Journaling — I have found sitting down to blog to be a great way to reduce my stress in my life.  If you don’t have a blog or know how to blog this is great time to start.   You can start by creating your free blog at wordpress.com and not have to worry about any of the problems of hosting or domain services.

  • Find a friend — another great way is to talk to someone about your problems and your stress.   Although some people will not do this it is  however a good way to relieve or at least reduce your stress.  Just talking to someone can help you live longer.

  • Praying — Yes You’ve heard me right.   I have found this to be best way to reduce stress.   You may not know this but I do believe in God and every time something happens, I ask God what to do.   He has answered a lot of questions in his own way.   God has been a source of strength and peace in my every day life.

  • Music — Find some uplifting music and listen to it.   If you find music that lifts your spirit then you will reduce stress in more ways than one.   I have found this to also help my stress.  Most of the time I start singing and I feel my stress going away.   I might not be the best singer but I do sing and it does help.

These are just a few but I will let you figure out how to fight stress.   I’d love to hear how you fight stress and what has worked for you when it comes to relieving your stress.   Please feel free to comment and help me make my life less stressful.

Paul Sylvester

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Intro to Podcasting Part 1

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Watamu (16) Image by malczyk via Flickr

So you want to start your own podcast?

I’ve helped several different organizations set up there own podcast, so I thought we would go into detail about the process.   I am going to lay it out to everyone who might be interested and discuss the finer points on how you’d start and what you will need.   Although, this will not be a complete tutorial, I did figure we could at least talk you through it and help someone who might be wanting to start your own podcast.

Starting a podcast can be a challenge, but yet really fun.   In the tutorial we will discuss aspects of:

  • What is podcasting?

  • Why Podcast?

  • How to Podcast?

  • Purpose of Podcasting?

  • Making money from Podcasting?

  • Examples of Podcasts?

  • Content Delivery, Free VS Paid!

As you can see there will be several different aspects that we will be delving into and even discussing them in length.   I will say this will be one of those times I am going to learn with you on this because I will be researching this as I post it.   So you can have all the information with you and learn something.

Podcasting 101

You’ve probably heard the term podcasts, or even have some podcast that you listen to already but if you don’t, I will explain it to those who might need to understand it.

A podcast (or non-streamed webcast) is a series of digital media files (either audio or video) that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication. The word replaced webcast in common vernacular due to the fame of the iPod and its role in the rising popularity and innovation of web feeds.

Via Wikipedia

Anyone can podcast and you could be the next big podcast.  It just depends on what your goal is and what your aiming for.    I will say that podcasting seems to be more and more out there than it was 10 years ago.

Why Podcast?

This has been asked over and over through the years. It varies from person to person. I will give you the general answers because it will be hot topic to anyone. Although some would say why not, here are in my mind the most common answers:

  • To Make even more Money

  • Connect to even more people around the world

  • easier than blogging

  • Your Personality

Like I said these are in my mind the most common reasons and are not all the possible answers that someone in the podcasting field might not have another reason. As you can see these are just generalized and should be used as reference and nothing more.

In the next part we will discuss the fundamentals of podcasting, what you will need and why you’ll need it. Hope you’ll stay tuned into this fun little subject!

Paul Sylvester

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