…is that you can put up something that does not have to be com-
mercially viable… like this (ugly) photo.
The beauty of a personal blog
Give us a date
There are two directions people go with their blogs – having dates with their posts and not having dates. I vote yes for putting the date with your post. Reasons?
1. It shows your readers that you are staying current with your blog.
2. It gives your readers a frame of reference for when the material was created. This is important for determining if the information might be relevant. In many fields these days, the latest information is vital. (This is true for social media, the area I work in.)
The other argument is that “my information is timeless”. That may be true – but your readers would like to know when you thought that particular thought. Maybe you have changed your thinking since then! (Not many people take time to go back to update all of their posts.)
If you are giving timeless information – and it’s valuable – just post it again, in a different way. Readers are smart enough to search your blog for that topic, if they liked what you had to say.
Finally, sometimes I actually will leave a blog when the blog is giving technical information and there is not date with the post.
Let’s be true, part two
First, this post is only slightly related to yesterday’s post. And it’s much lighter!
I was highly amused at this post (not linked to protect the identity of the author).
The author clearly was not listening to his own advice.
As a parent, I often fall into the trap of, “Do as I say, not as I do.” So I’m guilty too – but at least you don’t have to put up with very many words in my blog.
Small (short) is better
Most of my readers know that I cling to the credo, “short is sweet.” This relates to “less is more” concept.
Most of the time, computers get better. Apple updated their MacBook Pro line in October 2008. This was their first significant visual redesign since the first PowerBook G4, which came out in January 2001! And it was better in almost every way. They made some of the design elements smaller. You can see the power button and speaker holes shrunk by large percentages. I think it was a positive move.
Takeaway: When you write for your blog, magazine, newspaper, or whatever – see how few words you can use to make your point. Your readers will silently thank you.
Weird stats
I check my site’s stats every once in a while. July 10th was a big day – WordPress said I got 99 visits. But here’s the bizarre part – Google Analytics said I got 50. And Lijit? Hard to tell for sure.
I tend to trust Google Analytics more – but I’m too lazy to go there very often. So I guess I’ll stick with the artificially inflated view of how many people visit here, if it’s true that WordPress doesn’t have as accurate measuring techniques.
And then there’s a part of me that says I should never look. Who am I writing for? I know all those secrets of driving people to your blog – but I don’t feel like doing most of them… I blog just because it’s fun for me. I hope that shows.
Our blogs reflect our lives
I know that’s so basic. What can you write about except what you’re familiar with? Even if your blog is a business blog, your viewpoint on biz matters reflects your life.
I have always tried to write about stuff that I find interesting – and have hoped that others find it interesting too. That works, at some level. The people who keep coming back to this humble blog are those who resonate with my material at some level. Maybe I think differently enough from you for my stuff to be intriguing. Or maybe you think, “Hey, I think like that too! There aren’t many like us.”
But one thing is sure – I can’t write posts to get the most hits. Others do that better than me.
Welcome!
Hopefully you are one of my readers who came from My Part of Colorado.
Welcome!!
I moved here because I sort of outgrew Blogger. I called this site “Paul Merrill” because that’s who I am. I’m still in Colorado but thought people might recognize me if my site was named after me. Just personally, I hesitated to name this site with my name because I’m modest (in some ways), but I guess it just makes sense in terms of staking out my real estate on the old www.
A cool thing is that I can change my site name in a minute (to “World of Shiny Bits”) with my url remaining the same. So maybe I will, at some point.
And to those of you who frequent this blog, you may have noticed that this is about my fourth or fifth theme in about as many days. I like this one (Vigilance), as it has a serif font for the body text! Strangely, few of the themes out there use a serif font for the body. (Developers, take note!!) I do admit that this current theme is a bit boring, visually. We’ll see. Stay tuned for another theme coming soon, probably.
