Finding Content by Blending Tag Feeds
My webzine,loadedpun, is dedicated to finding out the latest information in online video in all of it’s forms. It’s an arduous task. Like most bloggers, I follow hundreds of blogs and sites in my RSS feeder, skimming for content that catches my eye and sparks an post idea.
One of the problems with this approach is that I tend to rely too much on just a few sources. How do I find the information that few are writing about? I’ll tell you how I get around this.
I use tag searches. In del.icio.us, I use my inbox to search for tags on relevant topics. The inbox queries are then made into a feed which I follow in my RSS reader. These are good for skimming to see what others are tagging in the area I’m interested in. If a particular user name keeps coming up in the results, I know that they are interested in the same things I am and I add them to my inbox search.
Many social bookmarking sites have feeds that are tag specific and you can often find things that don’t come up in del.icio.us although they may not be as prolific. For these, I utilize FeedBlendr.
With FeedBlendr, I can combine several tag feeds into one which I can then label with the tag I am searching. I have a feed for “videoblog”, for example, made up of tag feeds from magnolia, furl, blink, etc. I can also mix in variables, combining searches for “videoblog” and “vlog”.
The best place I’ve found for doing this type of feed search has been Technorati. Most bloggers tag their posts with Technorati tags so the feed I get comes directly from the people producing the content rather than readers who choose to bookmark and tag it. Think of it as going to the source.
If your site is specific to a particular topic, try out these tips and let me know how they work for you.
-Anne
Written by blogger on April 12th, 2006 with no comments.
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Relevance Rules!
Make sure you’re delivering relevance - blissful, utterly reassuring, confidence-building, persuasive relevance - at every turn
Written by blogger on April 12th, 2006 with no comments.
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Sloth, the 7th Deadly Sin of Blogging
All of us have bad habits, bloggers as much as anybody (maybe more, heh). When you are blogging for your own enjoyment, who cares? When you are blogging for cash bad habits are dangerously counter-productive. One “blogging sin” I can guarantee most of you will have experienced is laziness. Sloth, procrastination, apathy, indifference, “can’t be arsed” … call it what you will but whatever you name it, it’s a killer for creating a successful blog. If you are hoping to make an earning from blogging it is worth avoiding at all costs. Laziness is a handbrake on your road to professional blogging. How can we avoid this most tempting of blogging sins?
I say it’s the most tempting, how can I be sure? Well, just look at how many blogs get started then abandoned! The web is awash with good intentions, very few blogs get past their first year. Sad but true. It’s a shame but also mainly annoying for the readers, I would say it’s also a shame for the blogger.
Laziness is extremely annoying when you are a member of a blogging team. Personally I am far less likely to succumb when a part of a team than when working for myself as I have a strong fear of letting others down. I think though we will have all worked with people who are quite happy to let others take up their slack on a regular basis. Teams can break down when this happens. When working on your own the effects of laziness are only obvious really in your lack of progress and results. Perhaps only really apparent in hindsight.
Cowardice or fear can be a potent cause of lack of progress. Be careful of misdiagnosing laziness for being afraid and vice verse. It’s tricky sometimes to work out if you or someone else are avoiding something because it is unpleasant, boring or because of being afraid. I once got cross at a colleague because he would regularly find any excuse to avoid a client meeting, it worked out he had a real fear of face to face conversations with clients and just needed a little coaching. Fear in blogging though? What is there to be afraid of in blogging? Well, some people build up blogging into a popularity contest or fear public critique of their thoughts or opinions. One “flame” comment could be all it takes to stop posting all together.
Sometimes you could make an effort if you cared more. Apathy and irresponsibility go hand in hand. If you care about something it eliminates the possibility of being apathetic and you are bound to feel more of a need to produce. Another good reason to find a blog niche you enjoy and feel passionate about and if a team blog, people you like and don’t want to let down.
You might say, what harm does it do? If you are a bit crap at maintaining a blog who does it hurt? No one really gets hurt but overall the web becomes cluttered with half arsed dross and blogging gets a bad name. I have lost count of people who have said all blogs are rubbish based on their highly unscientific sampling. Perhaps if we encourage our fellow bloggers to keep up an effort this might not be so common.
When I had a traditional 9-5 job apathy, idleness, and time wasting used to creep up on me on a regular basis. For a while I would have periods of extreme productivity, followed by a time where it took all my effort to do the slightest amount, and that small effort was painful. Other than just not being in the right job, I realised there are certain things that trigger each behaviour both positive and negative. You might recognise some of the energy draining causes in yourself:
- Distractions - there is always something more interesting to do. Reward yourself by getting the dull stuff done now so you can get to the more enjoyable tasks
- Hunger - make sure you feed yourself, I find I just can not concentrate unless I have eaten but be careful to not over do it as being bloated is just as bad!
- Dehydration - it’s right what they say, you need to regularly drink fluids, preferably not the ones that make you desperate for … comfort breaks
- Lack of oxygen - I always think and work better when I get time to get out in the fresh air
- Lack of interest - so important I don’t mind reiterating over and over, if you are starting a blog write about something you are interested in, it makes maintaining it long term so much easier
- Fatigue - get rest, people who are tired not only do less work, the work they produce is crap
Anyone can be forgiven for slipping on occasion, or even semi-regularly, but if it becomes the main pattern of your blogging you are in trouble. Blogging is not a get-rich-quick scheme, it’s not a very effective path to riches. It takes hard work, persistence and stamina, sorry to say. The real winners in blogging are those people who put their heart, mind and soul into it. If that sounds like too much like hard work it could be that blogging isn’t for you …
The good news is so few people realise this, for the few people who are willing to put in that extra bit of effort all the rewards are there ready for the taking. This could be all the motivation you need!
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Written by blogger on April 11th, 2006 with no comments.
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You’re Up, They’re Down
The Washington Post’s Leslie Walker says growth is skyrocketing at sites focused on social networking, blogging and local information….
Written by blogger on April 9th, 2006 with no comments.
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Learning the Blogging Lingo
There’s a list of blogging terms on Wikipedia. It covers the more common phrases and words. This is a good handy resource to have for those among us who are beginning to study the medium. When in Rome, you…
Written by blogger on April 9th, 2006 with no comments.
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Brilliant headline from Koan Bremner
Usually, I advise people that when writing headlines or titles for online content, it helps to not be too “cute” or “cryptic.” This is because headlines are often viewed out of context online (in search engine results or feed readers, etc.). They generally need to speak for themselves. That said, I love a good pun. And sometimes, depending on the author, topic, and target audience, a good pun is just what’s needed. This morning, my friend and fellow blogger Koan Bremner pulled off a magnificently punnish headline: “Ctrl-Alt-Delete.” Now that might not sound like much of a pun – you need to read the article to see why it works so well. Normally I would consider that a problem, too. However, here’s why I think it’s a great headline, even though it’s geeky and superficially cryptic – and what other bloggers can learn from this example…
Tags: headlines, online content
Written by blogger on April 9th, 2006 with no comments.
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