Receive an e-mail notification of new posts on this site:
|
|
|
WritersNotes.Net: Helping Writers Follow Their Dreams Through Information, Inspiration, and Encouragement!
Background: Work, Borrowed and Stolen
In my last post, I mentioned that I'd discovered two unauthorized postings of my work on the Internet. One of the two posted my byline and linked to both my blog and the blog I'd originally posted the piece to (though changing the title of the piece), and the other removed my byline, provided no link, and also changed the title of the piece. I've written all about the first instance in my previous post, Who Has the Right to Post Your Work? I'll cover the second, more serious offense, in this post.
Google Alert Comes Through, Again!
I learned about both these unauthorized postings of my work through Google Alerts I'd set up using unique phrases from my work. In the case of the second article, I'd instructed Google to scour the Web for the following phrase: "individual's simple personal musings about a subject." That's all it took. I had set up a comprehensive, as-it-happens alert. So, as soon as the Googlebot found my content, a notification e-mail, including a description and link to the offending website, appeared in my inbox. Finding my work was as simple as that.
A Visit to the Offending Site
When I clicked the link to visit the website that had posted my piece without permission, I discovered that it was a British blogging website. (My post was also, as you've likely guessed, about blogging.) There, unceremoniously gracing the site's webpage, stood my article, sporting a revised title, some added text, and three added links to other pages on the site (both of which had been placed directly into the body of the piece). Conspicuously absent were my byline and the last few paragraphs of my article. Needless to say, these things made me rather unhappy. And while I was glad to see that no one else's byline was on my piece, that did little to assuage my annoyance at this site's presumptuous handling of my work.
A Message to the Offending Site-Owner
I decided to send a message to the website's owner via the site's Contact form. The following is the message I left:
You have posted my article, "The Fascinating World of Blogging: Is It for You?" to your website without my permission, at the following URL: [LINK REMOVED]. This is a direct violation of my copyright as the author of this work. Not only have you used this article without my permission, but you have also removed my byline, changed the article's title, and made other unauthorized changes to the article itself.
If you would like to continue to use this article, usage rights to the article are available for purchase at the Constant Content website at the following URL: [ARTICLE URL].
To continue using this article, you must do the following:
1. Visit Constant Content and purchase usage rights to the article.
2. Replace my byline.
3. Restore the article's correct title: "The Fascinating World of Blogging: Is It for You?"
4. Remove the additions you’ve made to my article (i.e., your links using the anchor text "B___," "B___ blogger," and "Blog"--which you may place at the END of your post, OUTSIDE and SEPARATE FROM my article, if you desire to keep them) and restore any other changes you've made to the original article.
If you prefer not to purchase usage rights to the article (which are really quite inexpensive); or if you're willing to purchase usage rights, but unwilling to make all the changes listed above, please take this article down from your website immediately, as you do not have authorization to use it, and as usage rights to the article include all the above requirements.
Thank you very much,
Jeanne Dininni
The Website-Owner's Reply
The very next day, I received an apologetic e-mail from the site owner telling me that he'd purchased the article from a writer--and I use the term loosely and only because it's the term he used--on one of the freelance bidding sites, who had told him she'd written it. He also said that he'd taken the article down.
That was the point at which I realized that I was indeed dealing with outright, intentional plagiarism--that my article had been hijacked by an unscrupulous "writer" who felt it was perfectly OK to profit financially by passing off someone else's work as her own.
My Unsuccessful Attempt to Get to the Bottom of It
I was quite relieved to learn that the website owner had taken down my article--though I admit I did feel bad that he'd been taken advantage of every bit as much as I had. I did, however, want to get to the bottom of it and do everything in my power to put a stop to this so-called writer's cavalier selling of other, real writers' work. So, I sent the following response to the website owner's e-mail:
Dear A___,
I'm very sorry to hear that you, too, have been the unwitting victim of the dishonesty of this unscrupulous "writer." Is there any information you can give me about the person who sold my article to you that might help me track down this individual and put a stop to this so others aren't taken advantage of as you were? If you have this person's name, [BIDDING SITE] username, or any other info about him/her, I might at least be able to contact [BIDDING SITE] and inform them that this individual is selling plagiarized work.
For your protection in the future, I recommend googling a unique phrase from any article you're planning to buy before you pay for it. This will show you where this work is already posted on the internet and who has posted it. You may not always be able to tell this way (e.g., when you've purchased it from someone selling it through a site where usernames are the norm). But, at the very least, if you see it posted under several different bylines, that should give you a clue. You might also be able to contact authors through their contact info on their websites to check on a so-called writer's ownership of an article.
FYI: I discovered that your website had posted my piece via a Google Alert that I had set up to detect any websites that had the following unique phrase from my article posted to them: "individual's simple personal musings about a subject." As you can see, Google can be a great help in detecting plagiarism—either through Google searches or Google Alerts.
I do appreciate your willingness to do the right thing by taking down the article. And again, I'm so sorry that you were victimized by this so-called writer, who gives real, honest writers a bad name; and I hope you won't judge all of us by the dishonest few.
Sincerely,
Jeanne Dininni
No Reply--and that Nagging Question of Why
The trouble--and I admit that I do find this a bit unsettling--is that the website owner never replied to this e-mail, which was dated June 8th (about 2-1/2 weeks ago). This does raise questions in my mind about whether the site owner had in fact been honest in the first place when he told me how he'd originally come to post my piece. Of course, it's every bit as likely that he simply doesn't recall the username of the individual from whom he bought the piece on a website that thrives on anonymity and mandates no outside contact between buyers and sellers. This would be a reasonable assumption. Yet, I would have felt so much better to at least have received a reply telling me as much.
My Decision Not to Identify the Website
I've decided not to reveal the name of the website that posted my piece for two reasons:
1. The website owner promptly apologized and removed my piece from his site.
2. Though his lack of response to my request for more information about the offending "writer" has left me wondering about his honesty, I really have no proof that his explanation for how he came by my article is untrue.
After much thought, I've also decided not to identify the freelance bidding site, since this could happen to any such website, entirely without the knowledge or consent of the site's administrators. I believe the negative publicity such a disclosure might create for the site would be both unfair and unwarranted under the circumstances.
Should I Pursue It Further?
My nagging question at this point is, "Should I pursue this further?" I can't help but wonder whether I shouldn't recontact the site owner--though that would seem fruitless--or perhaps try contacting the bidding site directly and giving them all the information I have, in the hope that they may be able to track down the transaction--and, with it, the offending "writer."
I must confess that I would find it most satisfying to have this unscrupulous individual banned from the site to prevent her from doing this to anyone else there--though, of course, I realize that the value of this action would be limited, since she could simply leave the site and perpetrate her thievery on other unsuspecting clients of other freelance writing websites. But, at least it would be a start--a small step toward righting a wrong and preventing the perpetuation of that wrong in one cyber location, anyway. I'll definitely be considering taking this step.
Come to think of it, though, I suppose it's possible that this person could actually remain on the same freelance bidding site by simply changing her username and registering with a new e-mail address. So, it's really questionable how much good it would do to contact the bidding site. I'll certainly have to give it more thought.
That's My Story
Well, there you have it--an intentional hijacking of a writer's work for purely profit-driven motives. A blatant disregard for an author's rights made possible by the sheer ease and amazing convenience with which modern technology has enabled Web content to be copied and pasted by anyone to any desired location, either online or off.
Do You Have a Plagiarism Tale to Share?
How about you? Has your work ever literally been stolen--i.e., used in a way that was obviously intended to be plagiarism, rather than simple posting of your work to another website in likely ignorance of copyright law and with proper attribution? Has anyone removed your byline without your consent? Has someone actually sold your content under his or her own byline? Has someone had the nerve to sell full rights to your work? If so, what did you do about it? What was the outcome? Even if it hasn't happened to you, what do you think about the issue? What would you do if it did happen to you? What do you think I should do?
Looking forward to your thoughts,
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Have anything to add? Please feel free to comment on any aspect of this issue that strikes your fancy--whether or not your comment answers any of the questions I've used above to prompt thought.
An Unexpected Change in Google PR
I just learned today that, after losing my PR 3 during the last Google PR update and going down to PR 0 (presumably due to posting sponsored content), my blog is now PR 2. I learned this quite by accident while checking the number of backlinks to my blog. This was quite a surprise to me, since I wasn't aware that changes in Google PR occurred outside the times during which official Google PR updates are in progress--a very pleasant surprise--despite the low PR 2. (After all, PR 2 certainly beats PR 0.)
Use This Tool to Find Out Whether Your PR Has Changed
Just in case your PR may also have changed since the last Google update, I've decided to offer this PR checker tool here at Writer's Notes to make it easy for you to check:
| Check Page Rank of any web site pages instantly: |
|
This free page rank checking tool is powered by Page Rank Checker service
|
A Link to This Tool Will Remain in My Sidebar
I'll also be placing a link to the tool in my sidebar for your convenience, in case you'd like to check your PR periodically while visiting my blog. You'll find this link in my Spotlight Posts section, where I place links to various helpful information, such as my About page, my blog's Awards page (for anyone who may be interested), my Pillar Posts page (where my blog's most helpful posts are listed by category to help you more easily locate them), and the Blog Carnival Feed (where you'll find a continually updating list of blog carnivals).
Hope you'll find this PR checker tool helpful--and also hope you'll find that your Google PR is higher now than it was the last time you checked!
Till next time,
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Find it helpful? Have you discovered any recent change in your own Google PR? If so, I'd be very interested to hear about it--as well as any other thoughts you may have on Google PR, whether or not your PR has changed!
Please note: If the StumbleUpon and other social bookmarking buttons aren't visible, please click the "Add Comments" link beneath this post. Thanks!
We Love to Know Our Website Ranking
Whether we write a personal online journal, pen an authoritative niche blog, or run a thriving e-commerce website, most website and blog owners are at least a little curious about how our sites rank among the many other sites on the World Wide Web. That's why so many of us check our Technorati and Alexa rankings so often.
One More Place to Check Our Site's Popularity
Well, there's a new ranking site on the block, called ://URL Fan, which, though it has a slightly different focus--ranking sites based on their popularity in RSS feeds--is nevertheless one more helpful way to learn a bit more about where our site fits into the grand internet scheme.
What Is ://URL Fan All About?
://URL Fan describes itself this way:
://URLFAN is an evolving experiment designed to discover what websites the blogosphere is discussing all in real time. It does this by cultivating the content of thousands of RSS feeds and parsing billions of pieces of information.
The site also has this to say about what makes it different than other ranking websites:
Now every website owner can see who's talking about their site in real time and how they compare to every other site on the Internet. There are many sites designed to rank the "traffic" of a website, such as Alexa, however ://URLFAN is different. We rank sites according to their popularity in the fast moving and growing world of RSS feeds.
An Added Dimension to Our Sites' Stats
When I checked Writer's Notes on ://URL Fan today, it ranked 97,292 out of 1,515,000 websites, which places it in the top 7% of sites based on the amount of publicity it receives via RSS feed. (It's actually a little over 6.5%, but who's counting?) This is a stat that's helpful to know, because it adds one more dimension to a site owner's ability to assess a website's popularity, know where it stands among its peers, and determine whether or not s/he is doing something right in managing it.
According to this most recent check on ://URL Fan, Writer's Notes was mentioned in 9 unique RSS feeds. (A list of these feeds is also provided, along with excerpts from the content which relates to the site in question.) While I was quite happy with my blog's ranking, I was a bit surprised at the low number of RSS feeds that were abuzz about Writer's Notes, since I would have thought that a higher ranking would also indicate a higher number of RSS-feed mentions. But, I'll be keeping my eye on this metric in order to evaluate its significance over time.
A Site Worth Checking Out
Nevertheless, ://URL Fan is an informative site which you might just want to visit. I think it would be valuable to check it now and then to get a comparative picture of how your site's RSS popularity evolves over time. (For example, Writer's Notes' ranking has gone from 110,024 to 97,202 to its current 97,292 in less than a week--which is still good news--despite its slight drop today, since it's still in the top 100 K! It's also gone from being mentioned in 7 RSS feeds to 9 during that same period.)
Visit the ://URL Fan About Page to learn more about the site--and get ready to learn more about your own site, as well!
Happy stat-checking!
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Know any other great stat-checking sites? Have any that are your particular favorites? We'd love to hear about them!
Google Crawl Cycle: An Important Metric
Would you like to know how often Google crawls your site? If not, why not? According to the folks at SEOmeter.com, "How often search engine [sic] visits and crawls website content is an often neglected, but important metric for search engine optimization." They explain that a site's Crawl Cycle, or CC, is an important indicator of how much the search engines "trust" a particular website. The shorter the website's CC, the more trusted the site.
Why Is Crawl Cycle Important?
The main reason you might want to pay attention to this metric is that the degree of trust your website enjoys with the search engines is directly reflected in your site's search engine ranking. SEOmeter offers a free tool (free at least for your top-level domain and/or sub-domain) which will help you track your own site's Google Crawl Cycle. (If you'd like to track internal URLs using this tool, however, there is an annual payment.) The SEOmeter site has been in operation for about a month, so far. To read more about the site and the SEOmeter tool, visit the site's blog.
SEO Meter's Widgets
Here are examples of some of the nifty widget styles you may choose when you use SEOmeter on your website:
80 x 15 pixel button:
120 x 60 pixel button:
120 x 90 pixel button:
125 x 125 pixel button:
Other SEO Meter Features
Another neat thing about this site is that you can compare the Crawl Cycle of different websites, which are broken down into categories, with the top 20 in each category conveniently listed on the Top-20 Most Crawled Sites on the Web page.
You can also display the Crawl Cycle of your site and two others on a line graph, if you'd like to see a visual of the comparative CCs of the three sites to find out where your site ranks in relation to others in your niche.
Ease of Use/Benefits
The SEOmeter and other handy features of this website are easy--and even fun--to use and can help you keep track of your site's popularity with the search engines, since any attention your website or blog receives from Google is likely to be reflected in Yahoo! and other search engines, as well.
What could be easier than placing the SEOmeter tool on your site and simply watching it continuously recalculate your website's Crawl Cycle? Though I've only had mine for a few days, I have a feeling that, as I continually monitor it, I can expect to learn a lot.
Want to do the same?
Jeanne
NOTE: The only thing I had trouble figuring out was why all four of the widgets used as examples above weren't displaying the same Crawl Cycle. I'd wondered whether this indicated inaccuracy in the tool or something else. After e-mailing SEOmeter, I received the following explanation from Peter:
To reduce our server load, we do not calculate the statistics on the widget for each page refresh on your blog, but store (cache) the previously calculated stats somewhere in our server, and show it on the widget. And this caching thing happens for each size of widgets independently. So in this case, 1.9 was an outdated number, which was previously cached.
I just tried clearing the stat cache on your widgets, and they are now corrected. The stats on the widget get updated once every 24 hours, so even if you see an outdated/mismatching number, dont worry about it. It will be self corrected within the next 24 hours.
I certainly appreciated that explanation! Thanks, Peter!
Did you enjoy this post? Have any thoughts or any other handy SEO tools of your own to share? We'd love to hear from you!
Free Online Resources That Are Worth Resurrecting
Over the past several months, I've provided my readers with numerous free online resources, written about in various posts, all of which have done the inevitable disappearing act that happens when blog posts move down the page and out of sight into the darkest depths of the archival abyss. Today, I'd like to resurrect some of these posts, so you can more easily access the helpful and/or fun tools, tests, and resources that can make your writing/blogging life much, much easier and a whole lot brighter.
So, without further ado, here are the links to these posts, divided into three helpful categories, for your convenience:
Resources
One Look Dictionary Search: Your One-Stop Word Shop
The Free Library: Your Online Literary and Information Portal
Bibliomania: The Modern Way to Read the Classics
GCF LearnFree.Org: Free Online Computer Training and More
Need Ideas? Let the New York Times Help!
Tools
Write Engaging Headlines: Use the Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer
Check the Viability of Your Site with Website Grader
OpenOffice.Org: Free Alternatives to Popular Brand Name Software
Rate Your Blog: Handy Blog Rating Tool
Keyword Density: Your Key to Better Search Engine Ranking
Tests
Test Your Online Identity With Career Distinction’s Online Identity Calculator
If You Like Tests, You’ll Find Plenty at Tickle.Com
Test Your Skills: Take the Blogger Spelling and Grammar Test
Hope they help!
Jeanne
This is not a sponsored post.
Did you enjoy this post? Was it helpful? Which tool/resource do you especially like? Please feel free to comment!
September 11th 2007 05:24
The Realities of Book Publishing
Lillie Ammann has written a post, on A Writer's Words, An Editor's Eye, that any writer planning on becoming involved in book publishing anytime in the foreseeable future would do well to read. It's called, The Realities of the Publishing World: Traditional, Subsidy, and Self-Publishing. Lillie has eight years in the publishing industry to her credit, which eminently qualifies her to write this piece.
Self-Publishing Explained
Lillie's post discusses the ongoing debate over the three types of book publishing and provides links to a few other helpful discussions of the topic. In addition to these resources, she links to her 14-part Self-Publishing Primer, where, in her own words, she offers readers "a more in-depth review of these different kinds of publishing and the advantages and disadvantages of each."
Gain A Bit of Publishing Knowledge
Lillie's Self-Publishing Primer is, itself worth the visit, with the other offsite resources she mentions providing the icing on the cake. So, if you have a book-length manuscript lying around waiting to find a home, and you're at all interested in learning a bit about the ins and outs of the book publishing industry--as well as the various options open to you in getting your own book published--visit Lillie's blog and have a read. You'll come away with a great deal more knowledge about publishing your book than you've ever had before.
Knowledge is power,
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Have any questions? Please feel free to comment!
DataBanq: The Blog of DataBanq Media Network
The DataBanq Media Blog covers topics such as technology, social networking, and SEO. These are all subjects that affect not only businesses that market their products online, but also writers of online content--or writers who market their writing online.
Posts on this relatively new but popular Internet Blog are informative and well-written. One that stands out in particular was penned by DataBanq president David Bayer and presents an in-depth assessment of the current and future realities of social networking.
Another fascinating topic addressed by Bayer on this insightful Technology Blog is "orphaned pages" (i.e., pages that, due to changes made to a website, no longer have other pages linked to them) and how such pages can negatively impact a website's other pages in search results.
The Databanq Blog presents highly informative content for anyone who is interested in knowing a little more about the inner workings of the often-mysterious world of the internet. And there are few people today who aren't in some way affected by the realities of the WorldWide Web--writers included.
Thanks for reading,
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Learn anything from it? Have any questions? Feel free to comment!
Mining the Archival Abyss
With the speed at which new content is posted to many blogs today--including this one--older (though equally valuable) posts quickly become buried in the deep, dark recesses of the archival abyss, where they can do absolutely no good. So, in the interest of fairness to those who may not have read some of these earlier pieces, I've decided to resurrect those that I believe to be the most helpful, by linking to the original posts, here. (In fact, you'll find quite a few more links than might at first appear, since the first post on the list which follows is itself a list of links to other great articles on writing.)
Tips, Techniques, and Tools to Help Writers Succeed
Add Color, Clarity, and Style to Your Writing: A Linkfest
Failure-Tolerant Leadership for Writers and Others
Magnetize Your Blog: Always Reply to Comments!
Write Engaging Headlines: Use the Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyzer
Need Ideas? Let the New York Times Help!
Google Alerts Can Help You Detect Misuse Or Abuse of Your Writing
More About Google Alerts and Your Blog
Keyword Density: Your Key to Better Search Engine Ranking
One Look Dictionary Search: Your One-Stop Word Shop
Hopefully, you've found some information here that's helped bring you closer to meeting your writing/publishing goals!
Much luck to you in all your endeavors!
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Was it at all helpful? Have any questions? Please feel free to comment!
Blog Day 2007: Celebrating New Blogs Worldwide
Today is Blog Day 2007: A day to celebrate new blogs all over the world! In honor of Blog Day, bloggers have been asked to list, describe, and link to five new blogs--preferably representing a different country, culture, or focus than our own.
Here's what the Blog Day website has to say:
BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest. On that day Bloggers will recommend other blogs to their blog visitors.
After writing our Blog Day posts, we are also asked to notify the bloggers we've chosen, which I plan to do via a comment on each one's blog.
Five Great New Blogs You Should Definitely Visit
Here are my choices (in no particular order) for five of the best new blogs from different parts of the U.S. and around the world. (Well...only one is currently outside the U.S: Confident Writing, which comes to us from Scotland; though one will soon be moving to Germany: Content Done Better. Yet, for some of you, the U.S. is on the other side of the world!) All these blogs are either only several months old or under new ownership.
I will let the bloggers who create the magic of the written word on their blogs speak for themselves, via quotes from their About pages and blog posts.
Pro Blog Design
Pro Blog Design. Michael Martin has this to say about his very helpful blog and also about blog post formatting:
I have been designing websites for a few years now, and enjoying every minute of it.
Over time, I’ve learnt a lot about working with blogs, and through Pro Blog Design I hope to share that knowledge with others. Content on a blog is of course, King, but does the King get the attention he deserves when draped in ragged garments? Of course not! In the same way that the grandeur of the King is crucial to his success, your blog’s design is crucial to yours. (from Michael's About page)
As bloggers, we write pages upon pages of content each week. We spend hours promoting the articles, choosing the right words and trying to get our point across as clearly as possible. How can formatting be used to further improve our posts?
There are a few basic tools that you will have heard mention of time and time again, such as bolding words. The first section re-explains their purpose, and the second will explain how to perfect your usage of them to achieve optimal formatting. (from Format Blog Posts for Readability and Legibility)
Confident Writing
Confident Writing. Joanna Young says the following about her quality site and about why she writes:
Hello I'm Joanna Young, The Confident Writing Coach...My aim is to get people writing with confidence. To realise the power of their words. How we work is partly up to you - but my approach is based on a blend of coaching, teaching, editing and writing - tailor made to your needs. (from Joanna's Welcome and Work With Me sections)
(Post Title: Why Do You Write?.) For me, it's something to do with the power of connection: the connections we can make with other people, the connections we develop between our own ideas, making sense of our experience, pulling together spaghetti strands of random thoughts and creating something new, connecting back to our roots and our selves and coming out with a stronger sense of who we are.
But then again maybe it's that thing I call realising: the sweet, slow dawning of realisation. Recognising the things that you always knew to be true. Recognising - with a jolt - your self in your words. Realising the power of your words, and taking responsibility for their power and impact: on yourself, on other people, on the world. Grounding yourself with the specificity of words. Validating your experience with words which are not real - but can make us feel that our experiences are. Allowing ourselves to be changed by the words that we write. (from Why Do You Write?)
ChrisBlogging
ChrisBlogging. Chris Bibey describes himself and his insightful blog and shares a few words of wisdom on freelancing:
For more than three years I have been earning a full-time income online. My main sources of income include a wide range of freelance writing projects, and of course, blogging.
But although I do not know the first thing about web design or coding, I still earn three times as much as I did as a corporate slave.
The goal of Chrisblogging.com is to show you how I make money, how you can join me, and much more! (from Chris's About page)
There is no denying that a few big jobs make up a large part of my monthly freelance writing income. But guess what? I also believe that smaller jobs are every bit as important. Sure, I would love to work on high paying jobs only, who wouldn’t? But the reality of the freelance writing industry (at least for me) is that this is not always possible. For this reason, I always think twice before I turn down any small jobs that I am offered. (from Don't Always Turn Down the Small Jobs)
ProBloggers Matrix
ProBloggers Matrix. Mark gives us this inviting welcome to his blog, and some great info about blogging (taken from one of his excellent posts):
Hello, I’m Mark.
Welcome to ProBloggers Matrix. I’ll be sharing blogging tips. If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to post them in the comments. (from Mark's About page)
If you’re like me, you love to write, you love to publish great articles on your authoritative blog and you also enjoy reading excellent articles in many fantastic blogs. That can be very time-intensive, but you need to get out and exercise! Get the blood flowing! Get into The Zone! (from How to Stay in the Zone and Keep Wowing Your Readers with Spectacular Articles)
Content Done Better
Content Done Better. Michi Beck's blog has an intimate, inviting atmosphere, due to her personal, engaging writing style. Her Under New Ownership section tells us this about her background, followed by an apt quote from one of her posts:
During her career she has written many informative articles on various subjects including economics, technology, local happenings, and human interest stories.
In addition to the newspaper and Internet work, Michi has had poems published and is currently working on her first novel, of which the first draft is nearing completion. She enjoys both fiction and non-fiction writing, and often takes the time to write about the smaller things in life, as she believes those things have lessons behind them that most people do not realize. It is not only the big things that are important in our daily lives, and since she is often reminded of that it appears frequently in her particular style of writing. (from Michi's Under New Ownership page.)
(Post Title: When It Rains, It Pours.) Have you ever noticed that? You could be in a ‘dry spell’ in your work life and then all of a sudden things go crazy, and you’re left shaking your head and wondering how you’re going to get it all done.
I mention this because it happened to me, rather recently. I’m not sure whether to be overwhelmed and annoyed that everything showed up at once or happy because of the work and income. Hmmm…..I think I’ll go with “happy because of the work and income.” (from When It Rains, It Pours)
Five Great Blogs to Bookmark and Visit Again and Again!
Be sure to visit the above blogs soon--and often! And don't forget to give these hard-working and insightful bloggers a little link love! It will be more than worth your while, as you continually enjoy their latest words of writing wisdom.
Congratulations go out to these five new bloggers for making their blogs places where we can go to pick up the best info, tips, techniques, and advice, to make us all better, more responsive, and more productive bloggers!
Happy Blog Day!
Jeanne
Technorati Tag: Blog Day 2007
P.S. I realize I posted this a little late in the day--particularly for those of you on the opposite side of the world to the U.S., where I live! My apologies. But, I believe I did manage to post it in time--though barely! If I missed the deadline in anyone's time zone, Happy Belated Blog Day!
Did you enjoy this post? Don't leave me lonely--Please comment!
A Hi-Tech Tool to Test Website Viability/Blog Vitality
I've recently learned about a couple of fairly comprehensive diagnostic tools that can help you determine the viability of your website or the vitality of your blog. (Thanks go out to K-IntheHouse at ShanKri-la, for the info, passed along in a guest post at Blog About Your Blog. A link to the post is provided below.) I wanted to pass along this info to my readers, in the hope that you'll be able to use it to make your website/blog better and more successful.
In this post, I'll cover the first of these two great online diagnostic tools: Website Grader. A great deal has already been written about these tools, so I'll limit the info I include in this post, providing a few links to other great content on the subject. Should you be interested in finding more info than these sources provide, I suggest a Google Search, which will generate many more links related to this topic. (I know; I checked.)
Website Grader
Website Grader gives your site an overall rating (so many points out of 100), which boils down to a percentage (e.g., 85/100 = 85%). Website Grader allows you to either diagnose your own site's condition exclusively or compare it to a couple of your most competitive website rivals, which is an interesting feature for those who want to know how they rank within their niche.
Some things you'll learn from Website Grader:
-Website Grade
-Google Page Rank
-Alexa Rank
-Technorati Rank
-Google Inbound Links
-Yahoo Inbound Links
-Delicious Saved Count
-Google Indexed Pages
Of course, many of the above are facts you already know about your site; however the others can certainly be helpful to learn, and even more helpful are the explanations which follow the chart listing the above data. That's where you'll find all your site's specific problems clearly spelled out for you--as well as all its positive points, using "alert" icons, consisting of either a yellow lightbulb or purple exclamation point, along with yellow or red highlighting of each of these problem sections. Blue "i" icons are used to indicate the non-problem portions of your site.
A Comprehensive Report on Your Site
The report generated by this tool is worth much more than the price of admission! (It would have to be--because it's free!) But, seriously, the report is very comprehensive. In fact, Website Grader will even e-mail you a link to the report so you can go back and look at it again later. (However, I would recommend copying and pasting it into Word [or whatever other word processing program you use].) Word will retain the formatting of the grading chart, in case you'd like to reproduce it on your blog or elsewhere, or even print it out.)
The original post from which I learned about Website Grader, as I mentioned earlier, was written by K-IntheHouse as a guest post at Blog About Your Blog. This post gives more great info about the tool. Here's the link: 2 Great Ways to Check Your Blog Health
The Website Grader report generates far more detailed information than I have mentioned here. So why not check it out for yourself and learn what's good about your website and what isn't. It will give you a great starting point for revamping your site to make it the best it can be. You'll then be able to measure how much progress you've made by plugging your site's URL into Website Grader again, as recommended by Wild Bill at Passionate Blogger, in his post, Does Your Blog Get a Failing Grade? How to Get an A+!
Happy diagnosing!
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Was it helpful? Any questions? Feel free to comment!
Writer's Notes' Value Up By One-Third in 18 Days
I've just calculated the latest value for Writer's Notes at Dane Carlson's Business Opportunities, and my blog's value has increased from $37,824.18, on August 8th, to $49,679.52 today, August 26th. In a period of 18 days, its value has risen by $11,855.34, or about one-third. While this latest growth spurt is by no means as large as its last one, Writer's Notes' monetary value appears to be steadily increasing at an acceptable rate.
The Latest Calculations
The tool calculates the value of each link to our sites, using the same link-to-dollar ratio used in the AOL-Weblogs Inc deal; and while I have absolutely no idea how accurate it might be or whether such a perceived value could ever translate into any real monetary return down the road or deal in any currency other than the conversational kind, it's still an interesting exercise in growth.
The current value of Writer's Notes, as caclulated by the Dane Carlson-designed tool, is shown below:
Inbound Links Equal Value
Though my blog's overall value isn't nearly as high as that of many other bloggers who have been on the scene far longer than I have, I still find it fun and interesting to check it periodically. Doing so gives me a better idea of just how much of an effect those Technorati "Blog Reactions" (which represent inbound links to my site) actually have on my blog's worth. And, while we're speaking of Technorati, my Technorati ranking currently stands at 61,722, with 88 authority, and I'm OK with that--for now! At this point in my blogging career, a Technorati ranking of under 62,000 isn't bad at all. And neither is a blog value of nearly $50,000.
Till next time,
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Don't leave me lonely--Please comment!
A Virtual Trip Around the Blogosphere
In my latest travels around the blogosphere, I've uncovered some excellent content that can truly be a boon to any writer interested in a fresh approach, a new inspiration--in short, any writer seeking the motivation to write with renewed vigor and vitality.
Confident Writing: Posts to Both Inspire and Get You Thinking
Please check out Joanna Young's excellent post, When Writing Means Spirit Spilling, at Confident Writing. This piece explores the process of writing from the deepest parts of ourselves and, through quoting the wisdom of several knowledgeable bloggers, links out to other blogs you'll find most helpful in your quest to grow your own writing.
Two of Joanna's other pieces, The Ingredients of Confident Writing, and How to Learn from Your Writing, are also insightful looks into the components that help make our writing fresh and engaging. They also link to other related posts on her own blog and/or elsewhere in the blogosphere.
The Golden Pencil: Pieces on Perfectionism, Freelancing Dos and Don'ts, and Marketing Your Work Objectively
Anne Wayman, at The Golden Pencil, has written a succinct, yet very helpful post called, Don't Worry About Perfection--Go for Effective, reminding us that perfectionism is a trap and wisely counseling us to let it go.
Anne has also posted two guest pieces that offer practical guidance to help writers more effectively run their writing business. Top Dos and Don'ts for Freelancers, by Lori Widmer, offers 14 basic tips to help writers "make a go of freelancing," and Sending Out Ships, by Charlotte Rains Dixon, counsels us to write personally but submit our work objectively.
Passionate Blogger: Giving and Receiving Series to Help You Reap the Same Recognition You Sow, and How to Avoid Information Overload in Research
Wild Bill, at P |
Comments (8)
Add Comments