6 lessons The Big Bang Theory can teach us about blogging

Source: ambernightdvd.com via Debra on Pinterest

 

 

I love this show. Not only for its humour, or the fact it seems to be the Friends for the 2010′s, but for the lessons it can teach – even about the seemly unrelated topic of ‘blogging’. “Really?” I hear you ask. Well, read on…

1. Geniuses walk among us.

This is a fact. Regarding our blogs therefore, we should ensure that our posts have high quality content.  That being said however, a genius may never read your blog. Therefore, it is not absolutely imperative that every sentence contain words of more than four syllables.
2. Have a love interest.

There’s Leonard and Penny. Sheldon and Amy. Howard and Bernadette. Even Raj and, um… Siri? The developments in these relationships make us want to watch the show over and over and over again. So, what’s the love interest in your blog? What are the topics or themes that you write about so well, that people keep wanting to return to your blog to read them? Write about your passions, and keep on doing it.

3.  Soften your criticism.

“Penny (arriving): Hi, guys. Hi, honey.

Leonard: Hey.

Howard: Ooh, we’re honey now, are we?

Sheldon: Yes. Since their relationship became carnal, Penny has upgraded his designated term of endearment, thus distinguishing him from those she calls sweetie, usually in an attempt to soften a thinly-veiled insult.

Penny: You’re boring people sweetie.

Sheldon: Although, sometimes, she omits the veil entirely.”

(Series 3, Episode 4 – The Pirate Solution)

Blog nicely. Blog politely. But if you must write critically, soften your message with some meaningless nothings.

4. Don’t be afraid to dream.

Sheldon wants his Nobel prize. Leonard, Howard, and Raj want successful relationships with women. Penny is an aspiring actress. Each main character has a dream that keeps them motivated. What is your dream for your blog? How many readers do you want? What type? Are you writing for yourself? To influence others? To successfully monetize?

5. Don’t worry too much about that ‘check engine’ light.  

Sometimes, warnings and advice don’t apply to us as much as others think that they should. When you blog, you will discover countless pieces of advice about how, why and even when, you should blog. Take this advice with a grain of salt. Yes, even the advice you’re reading right now! Sometimes, these things just don’t really apply to you. Make up your own mind, and stick to it.
6. Comic books and Star Trek can teach us lots of things.

Well, this one is pretty self evident, wouldn’t you say?

So – 6 lessons on blogging, as taught by The Big Bang Theory. Did I miss any?

A little lonely…

It’s been a little chilly here on the Bloxham Marketing blog. A little forlorn. Due in a major part to a little oversight on my part. Unfortunately, I’d been forgetting to change the post settings from ‘Private’ to ‘Public’ prior to scheduling them!

Source: oneoffmag.blogspot.com via JoJo on Pinterest

So, those of you who are subscribed readers, may have discovered quite a few emails in your inbox over the past day or so, mentioning my sudden number of posts. Sorry!

I guess that’ll teach me to check, check, and check again!!!

Using the tools to teach the ‘illiterate’…

As many of you are aware, I run the website GoodOldTalk.com – a space for people over 50 which is part  Computer Help Guides, part Forums, and part Social Network.  It’s been online now for just over two years, and in that time it’s grown a membership of well over 500. My main aim behind the site was to help Seniors understand more about their computers, in particular, the internet. And what has evolved is this – Seniors, some of whom have never used Web 2.0 skills before, now post regularly on their own blogs, and interact on a daily basis with other Seniors in the GOT Forums.  My oldest blogger is 94, and has posted about his 70^th wedding anniversary; and in the forums we have gardeners, crafters, lawnmower racers and Grey Nomads all sharing opinions and swapping stories and photos!

In a world where many are marginalised technologically, I think that we often don’t place enough importance on the need for people to be digitally literate. Soon after GOT was launched, U.S. President Barack Obama designated October 2009 ‘National Information Literacy Awareness Month’. (He was probably unaware of GOT at the time, though!)

The value of GOT lies in the fact that Seniors are supported in learning more about their computers, and through the computer, about other digital technologies. Since discovering the whole concept of screencasting, I have been inspired to convert each of the GOT Computer Help Guides into this format, as I believe that this particular tool holds immense potential for enhancing the effectiveness of their learning, due to its ability to record demonstrations on the computer screen, and enhance these with audible narration.

So now all I need is a tool to give me 48 hours in day…

Weekly review

Source: myrecipes.com via Cristina on Pinterest

This week has been quite a huge one. Not only did the St Paul’s poster campaign finish at Morayfield Shopping Centre, we also ran our flyer campaign through the Australia Post, to several thousand homes in and around the Caboolture area. Unfortunately, non-stop rain – and at times the odd storm or two – prevented the brick wall at the front of the school from being painted, so even though the 3D signage was manufactured and ready for installation on Friday, unfortunately that’ll have to wait until the weather clears. Meaning that it won’t be installed before children return next week. Oh well. Can’t win them all. Friday also saw several last-minute phone calls organising a newspaper ad campaign in two of the  local newspapers, so that’ll be some designing work to get stuck into, this weekend!

At St James in Hervey Bay students return on the 30th, so that leaves one more week for the newspaper enrolment campaign, which commenced last week, to take effect. Even so, there’s been quite a surprising amount of activity on the College’s facebok page, considering the term hasn’t yet commenced. But it’s great to see a school community so involved in engaging with their school through social media.

Online, both the St Paul’s website, the St James website, and GoodOldTalk have had tweaking done, ready for the explosion of activity over the next week or so. In particular, the newly created ‘Admin blogs’ on the St Paul’s website will be a marked difference to the amount of up-to-the-minute content on their website! The Bloxham Marketing website has also had a bit of a facelift, with a daily blog joining the regular tweets and facebook page updates. This week, posts focused on How To’s – firstly, how to successfully plan for writing a blog; and then, after my discovery of www.ifttt.com, an introduction of same and a How To – get started with ifttt in 5 easy steps. Alexander Tibbets, the “go-to guy at ifttt” continued to amaze me with exceptional customer service, topped off with an invitation to connect on LinkedIn. So now one of my 40 connections is one of the creators of ifttt! I impress even myself at times…

All in all, a very productive week. I don’t know about you, but I look forward to seeing what next week brings!

How to: Get started with ifttt in 5 easy steps

The previous two posts on this blog have referred to www.ifttt.com, the program that I predict will revolutionize the way we organize our lives. Although still currently in Beta, its potential is enormous for anyone who likes to know about recent developments – for example, changes in the weather or in the stock market – or for those who would like more efficiency in their online activities, especially when it comes to sharing, either with others in their social network, or within their own account/s.

“ifttt”, (pronounced ‘ift’  - like ‘lift’ without the ‘l’) literally stands for “if this then that”, and that is literally what it does. The two variables of ‘this’ and ‘that’ are programmed by the user, and this allows for an incredible number of permutations. For example, if the ‘this’ variable, known as ‘the trigger’, was ‘I tweet’, and the ‘that’ variable, known as ‘the action’ was ‘update my facebook’, then the task you have created reads: “If I tweet, then update my facebook”. Pretty simple, pretty cool. But where it becomes really interesting is the variety of ‘channels’ that ifttt taps into. Facebook, twitter, instagram, email, SMS, are just the beginning. DropBox, Evernote, Foursquare, Google Calendar, LinkedIn, YouTube, Tumblr and Vimeo are joined by WordPress, weather, stocks, Gmail, Google Talk and Google Reader. Just to name a few. Buffer, date and time, delicious, posterous – even your phone! – etc etc, the list goes on and on. And more channels are in the process of being added. Which means the varations are, literally, endless. Which is not just ‘pretty cool’ in my book, but way, way, way, WAY cool!

In summary, you set up ‘tasks’ which automatically work when a specific trigger fires a programmed action. So. How do you set it all up, and get it working? Using their lingo, how do you create a task using triggers and actions, from channels?

Below are five steps explaining the process.

1. Join

Clean, simple, large font web interface directs you to either Sign In (if you’ve previously joined) or ‘Join’ (blue box, top right). The other blue box, directly underneath ifttt’s slogan, invites you to ‘Learn More’.

To join, create your username and enter your email address, then create and confirm a password. Then verify these details through the inbox of the email you listed.

Congratulations! You’ve joined. Now go back to ifttt.com and sign in. Check the ‘Remember Me’ box if you want to stay logged in.

2. Check out your Dashboard

Here’s mine. You can see I have 5 tasks, all enabled. (Yeah, I know it’s not particularly many, but I’ll explain that in a moment…)

The dashboard is divided into three main sections. The top right tabs, “Tasks”, “Recipes” and “Channels” take you to pages which a) detail your tasks, and allow you to create more, b) the database of recipes, from which you can choose, and adapt to your own particular circumstances and c) list the various channels which can be used as either triggers or actions. The second, main section of the page shows your own tasks / recipes / channels, and the third section, at the bottom invites you to invite others to join you on ifttt. Very clear, very straightforward.

3. Create your first task

Each time you create a task, you’re taken through the seven step process, step-by-step. Each step is clear, with the reminder ‘If this then that‘ statement at the beginning, reminding you which variable you are creating. Click on the underlined, highighted variable to create it.

For the ‘this’ variable, you will need to chose your trigger channel (eg twitter) and it is here that you are required to fill in your account details for that channel. At present, you only ever need to fill this in the first time you use a channel. You will then need to choose from a previously created list, what type of trigger you want. For example, did you want your twitter account to fire your task when you tweet? Or when you tweet with a #hashtag? Or maybe when you get a new follower?

And once you’ve chosen the trigger, (for example, ‘New tweet by you’) you may be asked a further question, that specifically relates to this trigger. In this case, you’re asked if you’d like to include retweets or @replies with that (a little like the MacDonald’s fries, in a way!). And that’s the ‘trigger’ done, so then it’s on to the ‘action’.

Back to the ‘if this then that’ statement, and you’ll see that the trigger is completed, and the ‘that’ variable, the ‘action’, is highlighted. Click on this link to create the action, that is, to program what you want to happen when you send a tweet.

Step number four now, is to select the action channel from the page which loads. In this example, I’m going to put my tweets onto my facebook page for Bloxham Marketing. Again, I am required to fill in my account details for that channel. (Remembering that, at present, I only need to fill this in the first time I use a channel.) I will then need to choose from a previously created list, what type of action I want. In this case, it is ‘create a status message’.

Step six of seven is to add extra text – or not – to the ‘that’ variable, the action which you’re creating.  

Then finally, with both trigger and action completed, it’s time to name your task, and create /activate it. Done! 

You will then be taken back to your dashboard, where your task is now visible.

4. Check out the recipes

Now that you’ve made your first task, go check out other peoples’ creations, by clicking on the ‘recipes’ tab (top right). This takes you to a database of everyones’ tasks. You may notice that many seem to be similar. You may also notice a variety of languages in the ‘descriptions’. You can sort the database via ‘what’s hot’, ‘new’, and ‘popular’; you can also filter by channel; or run a regular search to find a particular recipe for you to copy.

Once you’ve found a recipe you like, you can ‘make’ it into your own task by clicking the blue arrow to its right, and filling in the ‘missing ingredients’ – ie, the channel account information, or the specific nature of the trigger or action. And finally…

5. Browse the channels

To do this, click on the Channels tab. You may be surprised by the combinations you’ll think of when you look at the page covered in logos. Ones that might surprise you – that you would never have even thought could be possible!

So that’s it – my 5 easy steps to get started with ifttt. Now, there’s quite a bit more to it that this, so I’ll endeavour to explain more in the next post or two, but these are the basics. Oh – and regarding ‘why’ I only have five tasks? It’s because ifttt have not implemented the functionality for multiple accounts per channel. At the moment, I’ve only been able to input one account per channel, and this has restricted my ifttt-ing ability, as I’m unable to create the tasks I want to use for work. (If you look closely at the screen shot above, you’ll see that the task I created as an example for this post doesn’t actually fire my tweet to a facebook page update for BloxhamMarketing, but rather, to the StJames Lutheran College facebook, which I inputted for one of my active tasks…) Hence my feedback to ifttt via their ‘contact’ form (bottom of every page) – and their personalised reply email within 48 hours, which 1) very politely thanked me for my suggestions and informed me that multiple accounts is definitely functionality that ifttt is working on, and 2) impressed me so much with their brilliant customer service that it formed the basis of a previous post.

So. A huge post, I know, but hopefully an informative one. And now it’s over to you. What do you think YOU could use ifttt for? And why?

Planning for successful blog writing – Step two of two

In Step One, I wrote about the importance of planning ahead. Not just working out ‘what you want to say’ but also ‘when you want to say it’. Using tools to help you schedule your life – and when it comes to writing blog posts, using scheduling tools to ensure that posts (previously written ones, and that’s where the ‘being ahead’ but comes it!) are published on time.

Step Two covers the ‘what you want to say’ section of the plan. The actual writing process. And for this, I find it helpful to think about three main tasks.

The writing process

A good blog post isn’t just about the words. If your readers just wanted words, they’d read a book (as in, an off-line one, with no links to follow). Look at the posts that you yourself enjoy reading, and you’ll see that they’re more interactive than just text. And why shouldn’t they be? Just look at the functionality of the medium that can be exploited!

1. Words

Firstly, before we look at bells and whistles, let’s get the basics right. And by basics, I mean the words. Make sure your writing makes sense. Are you using accurate sentences? Are they varied in style? Do you have spelling errors? Are your posts too long or too short? Is your information too superficial, or have you tried including too much? Finally, how have you formatted it? One big paragraph which is hard to read? Too many little paragraphs? Have you made use of headlines or bulletpoints well? Or is it, like this paragraph, far too full of questions? (Yes, this was intentionally an example of a bad paragraph, by the way!)

2. An image

Then, once your words are the way you want them to be, start thinking about an image. Again, thanks to @katiedatwork for explaining the ‘image credit’ process, and pointing me in the direction of Creative Commons! For those of you who aren’t sure what I’m referring to, it’s basically all to do with copyright. If you simply pull up an image in a google search, and copy and paste it somewhere you want it, you’re breaking copyright. Instead you should, go to search.creativecommons.org and run a search for an image that you can use. Here, you’ll find that you have access to the same range of images (through flickr, google images, etc) but you can see what licenses the photo owners have attached to their images. Generally, most will just want attribution. As in, you state who took the photo, and link back to it. Pretty simple. You don’t break copyright, and the photographer gets the credit that he / she is due. Everyone wins! Oh, and by the way, this post’s CC Image is courtesy jjpacres at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjpacres/3293117576/sizes/m/in/photostream/

3. Links

And finally, the last main task to a blog post is the links you embed. DON’T go linking every single concept! Nor should you only link to Wikipedia! But think about your audience (who you should be thinking of, anyway!) and work out what links you will need to make your writing more understandable. Think of it as another way of giving the credit where the credit is due, in a way. If you’re writing about a cool idea you’ve discovered, provide the link back to that original source where you discovered it, and that way your readers can go check it out for themselves. Again, pretty simple! And once they’re all in, PLEASE go and check that they all work. Imagine how frustrating it would be for your reader, who invests time reading your post and tries clicking on a link, only to find that it doesn’t work. Plus, it doesn’t reflect too well on you…

Now, these three tasks are obviously not all you could include in your blog posts. But they are the basics. Start here, and then get adventurous once these are second-nature. Well, that’s my recommendation, anyway. But I’d love to hear your thoughts. What is it YOU do with your blogs? What hints or tips would you give with regard to successful blog writing?

Planning for successful blog writing – Step one of two

I’ve often read how important it is to plan ahead. In a blog, I guess that means ‘work out what you want to say, ahead of time’. Which is good enough in theory, but when it comes to putting it into practice, sometimes that’s when things go awry. So I’ve decided to not just work out what I want to say, but when. And by this, I mean scheduling.

Schedule, using the right tools for you

Scheduling – the planning of a certain event to happen at a certain time – is helped enormously by the huge variety of online tools that others have made, that we can use. We are no longer restricted to a pen and diary-with-pages (remember them? I actually still use one – do you?!), or even a computerized version of diary / calendar. Since the explosion of Web 2.0 we now have tools that schedule or day for us (or around us, as the case may be!) and all it takes is a little bit of planning. I discovered, last weekend, the website www.ifttt.com and I think that this might quickly become a big part of my ‘organizational’ life, as it were. I also am enjoying playing with, understanding, and using HootSuite to schedule tweets from the variety of twitter accounts I oversee. So now it’s just blogging that I need to schedule.

As you can probably tell (you’re reading it!) I use WordPress to blog. A huge thanks to @katiedatwork for introducing us, in the INN333 course, Sem 2 2010. And although I haven’t played much with the ‘scheduling’ section of WordPress, I  will be. That way, I’ll be forced to keep ahead with my writing, which is always a good thing. Write ahead of time, edit, make it what you want, then determine when it is you want that post to be published. Easy! And one less thing to worry about. Again, less worrying – always a good thing!

So, that’s what I’ll be doing. Scheduling. What I haven’t done in the past, which is why last Friday’s post only happened Saturday morning. How about you? Do you schedule? If so, what tools do you use? If not, why not? (And what’s your favourite colour!)

CC Image Courtesy Earls37a  at http://www.flickr.com/photos/indraw/4857101224/

 

The Importance of Planning

I started this year with a quote from Lao Tzu. Last week, I then blogged about how I had been planning for this year, so I was ready for the days, weeks, and months ahead. It didn’t take long for life to find some holes in my plans. Hence yesterday’s non-blog, and today’s decision to create a few more contingency plans.

I don’t know about you, but for me when life gets busier than expected, less ‘urgent’ tasks fall by the wayside. Even if they’re important. One remedy for this is effective planning, the lack of which became obvious when yesterday was one such day, and although I had *planned* to blog, I ended up so exhausted, my eyes closed on me before I could type coherently. Not good. So I thought I might share with you my plans for blogging more successfully. Rather than just making the decision, “I’m going to write a blog post each day”, I’m looking deeper into WHAT it is I actually do. And I’ve realized that there are two steps, of equal importance. These are:

1. Schedule, using the right tools for you; and
2. The writing process.

I will be explain each more fully in subsequent posts.

So you think you want to blog?

Interesting statistics, courtesy HubSpot.com, indicate the wisdom of regularly blogging for your business. With the wide variety of free blogging platforms, and even wider variety of advice on *how to* blog for your business, it’s definitely something that even the smallest of businesses, with the most limited of budgets, could do to promote growth and generate interest and potential income. But if you’ve never entered into the blogosphere before, it could all be a little daunting. Where should you start? And what should you write about?
My suggestion would be to start with research. Before you hit ‘create’ in your choice of blogging platform, decide exactly what sort of blog you want to have, and start reading up -as much as you can- on that type of blog. Obviously, a personal blog will differ greatly from a business blog, but so too will a business-to-business blog differ significantly from a business-to-customer one. What type of business are you in? What blogs can you read that are similar in nature to this? Now, the research starts. Not only do I recommend subscribing to blogs (a dozen or so, to start with; then you can add / cull to this list as you get to know the blogs better) but I’d also strongly suggest you find decent *how to* articles that will help you to write the type of blog posts you want to write. There are literally hundreds of these helpful little articles out there. Some (maybe even most!) will actually be blog posts themselves, so this will be more avenues for you to learn from, if you subscribe to these blogs as well.
Then, and only then, are you ready to begin. You’ll create your blog and customise its appearance, write your first post, add the links and maybe an image (giving image credit,of course, if it’s not your own personal photo!) and then it’ll be time to think about how to promote your blog. And how to measure its effectiveness. And then finally, what to write in your second blog post!
So, are you still keen? Needing more help with it all? Or maybe you’re already a successful business blogger with more ideas and tips to share? Leave a comment! Let us know!

(CC Image courtesy Kristina B at http://www.flickr.com/photos/barnett/2836828090/)