Archive for 'blogs'
A Family that Blogs Together Stays Together
Posted on 16. Feb, 2010 by Daniel Dessinger.
Facebook friends: Please read this whole post at DanielDessinger.com and leave your comments there.
My wife (Heather), my mother-in-law (Barbara, aka “Gigi”), and want to do something new. We want to blog. Together. On one site. That’s right. A family blog. Wait! Don’t click away! It’s not as boring as it sounds.
We are an unusual family, to say the least. Husband, wife, daughter, unborn child, and mother-in-law all under one not so roomy roof. We eat organic, make our own deodorant, co-sleep with our children, make our own tortillas (and even our own noodles now), wear foot-shaped shoes, and occasionally get a little friendly with the great outdoors. That’s right. We can be…. how do you say…. less than “normal.”
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Shamed into Blogging
Posted on 31. Jan, 2010 by Daniel Dessinger.
I’m watching Motherhood (starring Uma Thurman and Minnie Driver) with Heather. We’re holed up in my mother-in-law’s room while Gigi does her very best to keep Katie entertained for two solid hours.
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Celebrating Four Years of Blogging
Posted on 29. Dec, 2009 by Daniel Dessinger.
I missed a significant date in my history, and I can’t move on until I’ve given it 20 seconds of fame. Just over four years ago, I became a blogger.
Though I can find a few instances of “blogging” I did years before, I consider my official beginning as a blogger to be November 1, 2005. That was the day I wrote my first post for CultureFeast.com entitled, “Welcome to CultureFeast”. It was the beginning of something greater than what it was. It was the beginning of my engagement with the social Web.
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What Are Your Biggest Reputation Management Questions?
Posted on 18. Nov, 2009 by Daniel Dessinger.
Hey guys and gals. It’s been a while since I’ve actively written on this site. Life is busy with parenting and working full-time for a local interactive agency in Plano.
If you have any questions you haven’t found answers to regarding Online Reputation Management, shoot me your question via comment below or on my Contact Form.
I’m evaluating all of my blogs right now (and believe me, there are plenty), deciding which to devote time to and which to not. Reputation Advisor was ahead of its time, and I chose to focus more on the work than talking about the work. Assuming I can achieve more balance between work and play, I’d like to pick this site back up again and exceed its former glory.
It all starts with you. If you are here and you have questions, let me know. I’ll answer each one, guaranteed.
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Looking for Awesome Blogs to Read
Posted on 31. Oct, 2009 by danielthepoet.
As I mentioned on Twitter recently, I’ve been reevaluating twitter follows, RSS feeds, and even my very own blog strategy. For too long, I wandered through my adult life, looking for the inside track to success. Whether it was a super secret method of building blog traffic or just noticing trends before they were trends (online reputation management).
This all goes back to Gary V, and how I believe God put Gary’s message in front of my eyes at just the right time.
There comes a time in our lives when we discover passion for something. Then comes the time when we choose to surrender that passion and pursue more conventional methods of earning, so that we can be good providers for our families. Then comes the time when we question the validity and eternal worth of what we’re doing.
There are passions, and there are callings. Not all passions are callings, and not all people are passionate about their calling.
How did I end up here discussing callings? I started out talking about blogs. This is how my mind works.
So to get back to my point, I’m looking for awesome blogs to read. Something you’re really passionate about. Someone who writes in such a way as to inspire you. Not just tips and tricks. Not just news. I want unique personality with a passionate purpose. If you know of such a blog, please recommend to me in the comments.
It is my goal to weed out the dross. Not that people are dross. But I have too much noise in my life. I don’t read enough quality literature already, so the content I read online has to be superior. Looking forward to your recommendations.
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How Many of the Top 100 Blogs Have You ACTUALLY Read?
Posted on 17. Oct, 2009 by danielthepoet.
I haven’t read past the Top 20 in months, so I’m guessing it’s safe to say I have no idea who the Top 100 blogs are. So here’s the list from Technorati, and I’ll but an X beside it if I’ve ever read a post from it.
Top 100 blogs
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Blogging Question #1: What IS My Passion?
Posted on 16. Oct, 2009 by danielthepoet.
If you have to ask yourself this question, you might already be screwed. OR, you might be just like me. I don’t automatically know what I “love”. I don’t know what my passions are. There are things I love, but I don’t want to talk about them all the time. There are things I am passionate about, but I don’t think anyone else will appreciate my take on them.
To this point, blogging has served more as a resume builder than a dream lifestyle creator. I am very grateful for the position I have because it’s better than I expected for myself five years ago. But every step of success has led me to the inevitable conclusion: I must continue to grow. I cannot stop here.
So I’m reteaching myself as I share these principles with you. In order to “Crush It” and score big with your blog or website, you have to have or quickly develop the following 5 things:
#1 You have to have a passion.
#2 You have to be knowledgeable.
#3 You have to listen
#4 You have to work hard.
#5 You have to be consistently creative and interesting.
For tonight, let’s stick with #1. This should be the most automatic, right? What IS my passion? I like many things. I have several hobbies. But what do I LOVE? Let’s look at the immediate short list:
- I love observing and figuring out people
- I love discovering new thoughts and analyzing them
- I love journaling
- I love blogging
- I love playing basketball (when I’m not injured)
- I love drinking caffeine and feeling euphoric
- I love explaining complex ideas and principles
- I love being the voice of clarity that resolves misunderstandings
- I love helping people see new possibilities
- I love receiving revelation directly from God
- I love sharing revelation with other people and seeing them encouraged
- I love (some) challenges
- I love my wife
- I love my daughter
- I love being a mentor to young men
- I love sitting in Starbucks
- I love my Vibram FiveFingers shoes
- I love making truly good decisions that make me healthier
- I love Twitter
- I love the idea of my upcoming Motorola CLIQ
- I love brainstorming new ideas
- I love creating new strategies for others to implement
I can’t let myself worry about what combination of these passions might be “successful” topics. That’s the wrong way to go about this. It’s NOT about how to game the system. It’s not about what formula will resonate with people.
That won’t work here. Because if I don’t come from the heart, I AM GOING TO FAIL. So let’s not even go there. What I think about what will work or not work is out the window. Because what do I know, realy? If I REALLY knew what people would like, wouldn’t I already be selling my soul to give it to them? It’s precisely the point. I don’t NEED to know what people want UNTIL I’VE ESTABLISHED MY CORE PASSIONS. The time for listening to what the people want will come. But people on the outside of me can’t tell me what I care most about. Instead, I’ll move on to answer Question #2:
What am I knowledgeable about?
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My Blogs Have All But Failed
Posted on 14. Oct, 2009 by danielthepoet.
This is one of the saddest and simultaneously most exciting times of my life. I’ve been pumped all week after watching some video clips on Gary Vaynerchuk’s website. For a secular web-based entrepreneur, he’s my hero. He’s passionate, articulate, unique, and he works REALLY hard. Gary has convinced me that my blogs are a failure.
(On some level, I can find fault with all of his advice because it IS secular, after all, and ultimately I can’t condone the kind of obsession with and idolization of “the Hustle” that he has. But I love his passion. Check out any video on his wine video blog to see what I mean.)
I’ve been SO PUMPED this week. I watched several of his videos / presentations and I finally got what I’ve been doing wrong. It’s like the light bulb finally went off. Why this didn’t happen two years ago, I have no idea.
Here’s the secret I’ve been missing:
Find ONE thing you’re most passionate about, write/draw/paint/video really good quality content about it, and network like crazy on blogs, forums, social networks, etc.
Can you believe it? For the past four years, I’ve been so split in my attentions that I’ve never honed in on a niche. It’s one of those things you ALWAYS hear about, and I kept saying to myself, “Yeah, yeah, niche smitch!” I had so many ideas for sites and domains that I never focused on ONE. My efforts were all kinds of flawed.
- I was taking my ideas, buying domains, and starting too many blogs
- I was only blogging on my latest, newest sites
- I was picking my domains and topics based on external circumstances
- I was repeating this cycle over and over and over again (I own 50 domains now)
So you see, it’s been a VERY frustrating process for me. I keep seeing opportunities and I buy the domain before it’s taken by someone else (serious early bird syndrome). But then I don’t have the willpower or interest to keep it going because I’ve invested in an area that’s NOT a primary passion in my life.
The things we love, we make time for. We FIND time for. We do them automatically and without effort. So the goal has been restructured. Despite my failures, I have learned so many lessons about blogging and web marketing that I can’t regret a moment of it.
In fact, a few years back, I actually got a job because of my blogs. So in one respect I can’t call them a failure because they landed me a decent position. On the other hand, I HAVE to call them a failure because they didn’t accomplish my goal: to become independently wealthy writing about my passions.
So it’s time to change. Out with the old process. In with the new. More details to come. And if you want to buy a domain, I may have one to sell.
*This post was originally published on DanielthePoet.com. Please visit the site to leave a comment.
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Gary Vaynerchuck Just Might Change Your Life
Posted on 13. Oct, 2009 by danielthepoet.
After watching this CNN interview with Gary V, I’m inspired all over again to go out and make it happen. Are you still contemplating what to do with your life? Watch this video and let the endless possibilities wash over you like a nice, warm wave of caffeine infused adrenaline.
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Is a Blog Worth Blogging?
Posted on 07. Oct, 2009 by danielthepoet.
Many times I have debated myself on this question. You see, I am a writer at heart. But I have too many channels and too many projects. I am spread thin. Some might argue that I’ve cheapened my words by how “frivolously” I share them. After all, a guy who runs seven blogs must not be sharing only gems, right?
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: writing in my journal restores me. It brings rest and comfort and reflection. It is inward facing. It has no ulterior motives. It wins me no recognition or respect.
Blogging, on the other hand, is extremely public. It puts my thoughts directly into the hands of the masses (or at least the masses who are interested). It’s not like writing a book, wherein I would carefully select the best pages and rewrite every sentence until the finished work was a work of art. No, and this is why so many self-proclaimed artists mock blogging as a powerful method of expression. They are old school, and old school says immediacy equals cheap. The real stars are hard to reach. They make themselves scarce so that when they do surface, their very appearance is newsworthy.
Blogs make us all so immediate and familiar. So much of the mystery is gone. You know what I’m doing on my vacation before I get home. You’ve seen the pictures and seen the updates on Twitter or Facebook. I have less influence upon you because of how easy it is to access me. By blogging and tweeting, I am not rare. I am common.
It’s easy to assume that someone who refuses to blog is more interesting, but they are merely more mysterious. And they are actually only mysterious if someone cares what they are thinking and feeling. An outsider must first be interested, then the subject must withhold easy access (i.e. immediacy). Only then is a person “mysterious”. Without outsider interest, the withdrawn person is simply forgotten and unimportant.
Blogs can have a similar but opposite function. By regularly posting, there is no surprise. So even if you, the outsider, is interested, the very quantity and immediacy of my thoughts makes me somewhat less powerful and important.
At least, that’s my initial take. Feel free to disagree.
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Woopra Analytics Announces Changes
Posted on 21. Sep, 2009 by Daniel Dessinger.
Here at MarketNet, we love Woopra. It’s far and away our favorite web analytics tool for live stats and streaming data. Some of it’s features really shine on a blog format, but we’ve found its live streaming data to be useful for any site.
You can watch the video of John’s presentation here, or you can [...]
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Pic of the Day
