KimsWhimsy : On Blogging

Hello to all whom wander this way on this lovely November morning....

T'is a cool, windy morning here in southeast Georgia....at first....it looked a bit overcast...Noel is blowing off the coast of Florida, hence a brisk wind here today.

But now, the sun has peeked its lovely head out....and I am CONVINCED the overcast looking weather shall burn off into a sunny day ......

I have been thinking a lot lately about this BLOG thing...about blogging in general.....

I have blogged for quite some time.....

I used to have AOL.....I blogged there for a bit....well, actually until I finally got so fed up with AOL I cancelled the plan and went to COMCAST ISP.....

At the same time I blogged on AOL....a good friend and I began a blog- a political, right wing blog ( are you surprised dear reader? you shouldn't be! )

That blog grew leaps and bounds until we had over 800 members registered.....we ranked pretty high on the blogosphere.....and, I can honestly say, I enjoyed it.....immensely....I love a good debate....I love the exchange of ideas with others....I loved slaying bleeding heart, extreme lefty liberal mentalities in a decent debate!

Yes, dear readers......I adored that blog...in fact, I was addicted to blogging at that time....

I . loved . it .

Then Mark died....and I didn't enjoy it so much...not that I enjoyed anything so much as I had before.....yet....I tried to keep at it for a little while longer....and then, I realized....I just didn't desire to do it any longer....I had lost my passion for it, among other things.....

And so....that blog was governed over to the person I began it with, who ultimately put the blog to sleep once and for all.....finished. kaput. gone.

Then.......I began to Blog on Ebay blogs- at the time I was listing a family members personal Estate.....and me , loving to write....piddled around with blogging there for a bit...about 15 months, actually...

until !! it got ugly, the scene was mostly female...and let me tell you, dear readers..... some females can be brutal and ugly to other females they feel intimidated by....or jealous of....or what ever you desire to call it....

eBay blogs, when they first began, was a brilliant concept in marketing, for they gave the sellers on eBay a very unique way to market their items, get further into the web search engines.....and , at first, they seemed to work well....

However!

Once some people began to realize it was a wide open area on eBay with little to no moderation, the flame wars began- eBay Blogs turned into a full fledged CHAT ROOM and MESSAGE BOARD.

All this, with NO, to very little, moderation for community standard content.

One can only imagine the problems that would arise, and arise they have.

If you have some time and desire to see the nitty gritty of eBay, and the spiral of the blog feature there, just google " ebay blogs ".

There currently seem to be two factions in the ever continuing and ever growing flame war.

Read to your hearts content.

Keep in mind : these are SELLERS and BUYERS.

Ask youself this:

Would you buy from people who comport themselves in such a way in a business environment?

I knew my blogging days there were numbered.......and..... let me interject here, dear readers....I met some lovely people there, a few I call friends.....but, the majority are not people I would ever associate with.....be it because of their lack of passion about ANYTHING other than making a buck,or due to their direct involvement on flame wars, or their silent complicity.

Those , dear readers....are the people who will stand for nothing, and fall for anything, unless of course, it benefits them directly.

The fact is simple: Money is being lost by those bloggers on the eBay blogs who participate in such unprofessional behavior.

I can state firmly that I have concluded NOT to do business with several, based on their very ugly behavior on eBay blogs.

I estimate, that in the last 6 months of this year, I have decided not to give at least $7,000 worth of business to eBay bloggers who participated in unprofessional conduct as witnessed on eBay blogs.

One transaction alone would have been over $ 2500.00 for professional graphic web design, with future work contracted for my sisters and mine co - owned medical-legal consulting business.

We instead, took our business elsewhere, and in the process, got a very professional web design, without the worry of drama, not to mention the fear that our personal transaction information from eBay would be diseminated freely to, only God knows who.

The point is simple : if you are planning to BUY on eBay, venture into the BLOG area and do some research, then decide WHO you trust to do business with.

This goes for sellers also.

Personal conduct while online is very telling about one's general intent in life, and towards others.

But....dear reader...I digress......

So, I began to blog on My Space, November 2006, as my dismay with the eBay blog environment grew.

My blogging has been less than passionate at times.....as I floundered in the sea of indecision about blogging.....

" do I or don't I ? ".....

Well.....I have made up my mind ....finally!!

I will be blogging here AND on MySpace, but NOT on eBay Blogs.

I am still trying to adjust my timing on both, so bear with me as I figure out how much time I can devote to each blog.

At times....my entries might be stimulating....inspired....cathartic.

At times a purging.....a tweaking.

One thing I am assured of....and actually quite comfortable with at this time is this : the sum of my blogging appears very small on the big blog stage of the blogoshere.

I am o.k. with that.

I have been there, done that.

This is me for now.

It's o.k. with me if I am rank a miserable 4, 971,001st on the web.( a joke, dear readers : )

It's also o.k. with me when it appears at times that I am the only person who actually reads my ramblings.

It's o.k. with me if Technorati confirms my darkest fear, nay suspicion.....that I am back in junior high school again....a little girl with no friends

Cue the music here!

Cue the sweaty palms, heart banging, gut wrenching snippets of childhood horrors!....

Sitting with no friends at lunchtime....when all two of my friends were sick...and I, a skinny little 4'4" girl....would wait to be picked for the basketball team....writing silly words on my hand so people would not confuse me with interesting...instead of insignificant.....

I got over it : )

By the end of high school I wasn't much bigger, yet, I stood taller, had many friends...and most importantly...I had a voice.

People listened....they laughed....they even wanted more.

So....now...I don't wonder where my audience is.....for how can one small southern belle be heard in a sea of 90 million voices?

I will share these thoughts with you though....from prior blogging experience, and yes, from being very successful at a * big* blog for a bit.....because some of you , dear readers , might aspire to be blog greats!

I discovered quite quickly....that it takes much more than a burst of confidence to break into the blogging world...in fact, there are some fundamentals to adhere to if you want a blog people will find, let alone read, let alone keep coming back to....

So , here goes......

This small southern belle thinks the seven top blogging techniques are:

1. Be an Investigator: What do people care about? Find out what it is and create some real insights into the topic. This isn't easy. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will your blog. Time and effort are required for this foundation.

2. Be a Pioneer: Take the lead on a fresh and fascinating subject and milk it.

3. Be an Expert: Be the buff and deliver incisive, clever and comprehensive material on topical subjects.4. Be an Individual: Break the mold. Avoid the cliche. Blow everyone away with a completely novel idea or approach to your material that sets you apart from all the other blogs out there.

5. Be a Networker: Get noticed by the relevant Big Boys. Let them know you exist by e-mailing them with a brief message linking to one brilliant post you've written.

6. Be an Editor: Cut to the chase and make sure it looks good. Your audience wants to love you in small and invigorating sessions. Avoid the long wind. Make your point in a sharp, succinct, spectacular way.

7. Be a Tweaker: When your blog hits the big time, don't sit back and relax. Reinforce. Refresh. Repeat whatever technique you employed to get it there.

Creating a blog is an undertaking, exposing it to the world is a challenge.

It's worth a try...if you really desire to do it

Let me know if this information was helpful. At least then I'll know I'm still not the 4,971,001st on the ranking. ( haha! )

ah.k....that is all for now, dear readers.....

small southern belle , over and out : )

~ Kimberly