Any one remember the TV show Full House? That syrupy sitcom that introduced us to the twin vortex known as the Olsen twins? Fox news did a fantasy recast and their choices are quite interesting. Probably the best casting is Stephen Colbert in the Bob Saget role. This got me to thinking: which show would I recast? Who would be cast? So, I turn it over to you. What TV show would you recast?
Philip over at ihelpyoublog.com has created the ultimate topic list for a blog. He has listed 101 different types of blog posts you can add to increase your readership. Basically, you can take each type of blog post, and do it once, and if you want to blog every day, you’ve got almost 1/3 of the year covered.
There’s an article over on dailyblogtips.com that advocates specializing in one aspect, becoming a master at it and not spreading yourself too thin. I have to say I disagree with this one. Here’s why. Let’s say for example, you specialize in one skill. Let’s say you manufacture parts for cars. You study your field, you examine new production techniques, you refine your process to ultimate efficiency. Then, the company you work for discontinues the car model that uses your part. You no longer have a job, and since this is your only skill, you have no value to bring to the job market. This happens all the time, especially with people who work at mills for many years. The mill closes, people get into a lull doing the same job, honing that one skill, and when the job is gone, they struggle to find more work.
Now, what does this have to do with blogging? If you’re looking to make money by doing this, you aren’t going to make enough at the beginning to sustain yourself financially. If you’re new to this, this is a new skill you are developing, so you will need to continue exercising your other skills while developing this new one. Now, where the author from the above article gets it right is in the number of skills you try to develop. If you try to develop skills in 6-7 areas, you will not be as efficient as someone developing 2-3. And if you develop a new skill set, work diligently, research, and come close to mastery before adding other skills.
Keeping with the last post, I decided to put another Star Wars related post up today. This comes from Goldentusk, the genius who put together the LOST video I posted last week. This is one of my favorite videos/songs from this guy. Enjoy!
Well, depending on how you look at a situation, the new Google Buzz could either be going along like any other new startup application or it could be an indicator that Buzz is in big trouble. Google has announced the second major change to the social networking tool since it launched this month. The problem came from people being set to automatically follow others status updates. The concern came from the lack of privacy or the option to turn it off. Now Google has fixed the problem, but it makes me and some people wonder about Google. You would think they would have thought this one out a little better. While many people tried it out when it launched, I wonder if the issues turned enough people away that this will not be successful.
This may fall under the realm of celebrity gossip nonsense, but Emily Blunt (I know what you’re saying, “who?”) has come out publicly and said she will never sign up for Twitter and that Twitter is simple awful. Now, that’s her opinion and I’ll let her have it, but I do think Twitter has some benefits. The recent earthquake in Haiti is a perfect example. People are able to notify many simultaneously that they’re not harmed after the quake hit. If you have relatives that have to go the hospital, that’s when Twitter is useful. Other times, just announcing that you’re shopping for earrings is not that news worthy. But that’s my opinion.
As the title should suggest, I am a huge Monty Python/dry humor fan. And since this is Friday, I figured I’d give you something funny for today. I stumbled upon this guy while surfing YouTube videos. He goes by the username of Goldentusk and what he does is nothing short of amazing. He takes instrumental theme songs from popular movies and TV shows and adds parody lyrics that describe the premise of the movie or show. Each one is unique and incredibly entertaining. Some of my favorites are his videos for Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Superman. To give you a taste of his creativity, I’m including his latest video for the TV show Lost. I have never watched the show, so I don’t understand the humor, but it seems to be real popular at this point, so I figured you might enjoy it more.
If something works, stick with it. Facebook is starting to become notorious for making layout changes that make the experience a frustrating endeavor. Here’s what I mean, The previous layout had certain things in certain areas of the page. That layout lasted long enough that I and a number of FB friends got really comfortable with it. I could login, check the things I always check, and move on to my next activity. With this new layout, I spent 5-10 minutes more just trying to figure out where everything is. And a number of my friends have already posted status updates about how they hate the new look.
What’s the point of this rant? Usually, blogs don’t change format to much. You might change a graphic every once in a great while but it doesn’t change format. If you have a full blown website, here’s the lesson: if you’re going to change your site layout, don’t completely reinvent the wheel. People like consistency with a little bit of change. When you make your site almost brand new in design and layout, you’re going to make people mad. Mad people usually don’t come back to visit.
If you want to find out what people are blogging about, and consequently what people are looking to read about, head over to blogpulse. You’ll find the top topics for bloggers as well as get ideas of things you may want to include in your blog.
