2,000 posts - I meant to celebrate

The counter now shows that this is the 2006th post on this blog (which is nearly 4 years old) and I did mean to write a celebratory post at the beginning of the week.

In general I write a post a day, and this year I have been trying not to write too many more than that.
About 40% of this year's posts have been book reviews, a large part of the rest have been memes of various types.

I do try pre-schedule posts for times when I am travelling, but the book reviews are nearly always written within hours of completing a book.

Is leaving a comment just BSP?

Technorati's State of the Blogosphere in 2010 survey raised among other things the topic of why "we" blog, what we enjoy about blogging, and suggested that one of the enjoyable things was getting comments from other bloggers.

Zen Leaf wrote a Sunday Salon post about what someone said to her about leaving comments and I've been watching the vibrant conversation there, after throwing my own comment into the ring (of course). The gist of the original statement made to her was that commenting is a form of self-advertising.

When I talk to people just starting out on blogging, I do suggest that one of the ways to bring your blog to the notice of others is to begin leaving comments on their blogs. So I guess in that sense it is advertising, BSP, or whatever you like to call it. For me, commenting in this way has been the beginning of good cyber-friendships.  Here's a post (where the image comes from actually) that has some sensible things to say about commenting being an important part of social networking.

The other thing that I suggest people do is reply to the comments that others leave. I do believe that blogging can be the beginnings of a conversation. Sadly, despite my own belief in the practice, I don't always get around to doing it.

I monitor well over 100 blogs through my RSS reader and through Blogs I'm watching, and through Crime and mystery fiction on FriendFeed and I don't always get around to leaving comments on people's blogs.
But I know how much I enjoy comments, and the conversations that can flow, not just between me and the commenter,but between fellow commenters. This blog post talks about the role of commenting in building relationships.

One of the things I hate are spam comments - you know the sort I mean - the ones that make you put commenting into moderation from time to time until the "person" gets tired of visiting. But I certainly don't object to friends who leave comments that just indicate they've read and enjoyed (or hated) the post. BTW you don't always have to agree with me.

So what is your attitude to comments and commenting? What practices do you recommend?

BSP="blatant self promotion"

Sunshine Award

Nearly 2 weeks ago Janet Rudolph at Mystery Fanfare included me on a list of blogs when she passed on a Sunshine Award.  I felt particularly flattered with the idea of being a little ray of sunshine.

The award's supposed to go to bloggers whose “contagious positivity and creativity inspire others in the blogging universe.”

The rules read as follows:
1. Put the logo on the blog within your post.
2. Pass the award on to 12 bloggers.
3. Link to the nominees within your post.
4. Let the nominees know they have received the award by commenting on their blogs.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Passing on such an award to 12 others is always a bit of a task, because you do wonder whether your chosen recipients will be grateful. I hope mine accept the award in the spirit in which it is intended. (and that those I've left off this list are not offended).

Here is my list:

• Margot at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist
• Margaret at BooksPlease
• Margot at  Joyfully Retired
• Sarah at A library is a hospital for the mind... 
• Elizabeth at Miss Lemon's Mysteries
• Nan at Letters from a Hill Farm 
• Bernadette at Reactions to Reading
• Margaret at Adventures of an Intrepid Reader
• Patti at Pattinase
• Craig of Crime Watch
• Norman of Crime Scraps
• Jennifer at Reading with Tequila  

Weekly Geeks 2009-38: Difficult to Navigate blogs

This week's Weekly Geeks task basically asks us to consider how navigable our blogs are, whether people can find what they want, whether they have a whole raft of features, such as this checklist.

• navigable site
  
• tags
• RSS feed button
• contact details
• comments space
• searchable
• links all work
• rating system accessible
• glossary of strange acronyms

One of the problems with developing your blog is that it grows a bit like Topsy, or in our local idiom, like "the house that Jack built". The Jack in question added rooms and other features as the mood or the need took him, and the result was a bit like this beautiful image (reproduced here under Creative Commons licencing). Click on the image and you'll see the portfolio it is part of.

I've done the blog analysis thingy several times now, taken people's advice, swept away features that I was really fond of but others found cluttersome, and I think the result is that what I've got I really like.

I've thought about how and why "traffic" comes to my blog.
If I look at the various analysis tools I have running, particularly the FEEDJIT, what I've learnt is that while I have a number of followers and friends who visit regularly and read most new posts, about half my visitors come as a result of a search for specific content. Sometimes I don't really understand, given what they were searching for, why Google threw them my way. But often they have searched for a particular book or a particular author, and I am just a tram stop on their quest for information.
So in terms of being part of that search train, a critical mass of crime fiction reviews, information about authors etc. is important. The more there is , the more visitors will come.
The interesting thing about the "searching" visitors is that they have been delivered to a specific page on the blog, and often go no further. Sometimes they they look around a little, but not often.

Sitemeter gives me this sort of information:

	Average Per Day	151
	Average Visit Length	1:58
	Last Hour	9
	Today	83
	This Week	1,058

So you see most stay for as long as it takes them to read the review or the post.

Participating in community events such as Weekly Geeks, Sunday Salon and Pattinase's Friday's Forgotten Books, brings people to your blog, although not a lot of them seem to be crime fiction addicts like me. Hosting events yourself such as the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge, the Agatha Christie Blog Tour, and my latest, the Crime Fiction Alphabet Community Meme, will bring visitors too and cement your place in the genre community.

The most solid advice I can give to other bloggers is to make sure that people have something to do when they come to your blog. Run an event, a poll, or a giveaway, or put yourself into the review chain. By the latter I mean, when you write a review give the readers other places to go to add to what they have found out from you. Link to the author's site, or to other reviews of the same book.

So now, off you go back to the Weekly Geeks home page, and see what others have said (You've spent your allocated minute ot two here). Come back some time soon. Oh, by the way, why not leave a comment to let me know what you think of my ramblings?

Get a better, stronger password this week

This is a repeat of a blog posting from my work site, but a message worth repeating I think.

Australians are being encouraged to take some simple steps to improve their online security as part of National E-security Awareness Week, June 5 - 12 2009.

Stay Smart Online provides all Australian online users with information on the simple steps they can take to be secure themselves online. This includes information and advice on how to secure your computer and your transactions online.

This website contains a free alert service that provides easy to understand information on the latest e-security threats and vulnerabilities, a free interactive education resource for primary and secondary school students, videos with useful tips on protecting your computer, a self assessment tool for small businesses, and information for parents.

Many who read this will be like me- so many password requirements that I confess I have fallen into the trap of using much the same password each time. It probably doesn’t matter in most things, but it is obviously something I need to re-think.

Five simple tips being promoted throughout the Week will help Australians use the internet in a secure and confident manner:

* Get a better, stronger password and change it at least twice a year.
* Get security software, and update and patch it regularly.
* Stop and think before you click on links or attachments from unknown sources.
* Information is valuable. Be careful about what you give away about yourself and others online.
* Log on to www.staysmartonline.gov.au for further information and to sign up for the email alert service.

Why do I blog?

I came across this yesterday via a Twitter link.
My AP Literature and Composition students are working on their senior presentations. I have promised them that I too will complete a research project. This blog has been a huge part of my project, as I am researching why people blog. I have read several articles pertaining to my topic, but I would love to gather as much information from “real live bloggers”, if at all possible. So, if you are willing to participate, I have a few questions I would love to ask you. Perhaps we could make this a meme and you could post in on your on blog and just leave a link under my comments…..
The blog is at http://stateofdenmark2.wordpress.com/2009/05/16/senior-project-meme/

I have decided to write my responses both here and on my "work" blog.

1. How long have you been blogging?

I began this blog at the beginning of 2008, but had already had 14 months experience on my work blog.

2. Why did you start blogging?

I was already writing book reviews and storing them in a couple of places, but I didn't have control over what happened in either of those places. I decided that it would be nice to post my own book reviews, and perhaps write about other book-related issues. I made the decision to write a review of every book that I read, not just those submitted to me by authors and publishers for reviewing.

3. What have you found to be the benefits of blogging?

In the first place, deciding to write a blog post containing the book reviews gave me a chance to reflect on what I had read. Then I realised that there are others doing the same, and that I am actually part of a community of bloggers who were also reviewing books.
I now see blogging as the beginning of a conversation, but also the opportunity to connect with people in other interactive ways such as polls, competitions, and comments.

4. How many times a week do you post an entry?

My aim is daily, but in fact it is probably more like 10 times a week now.

5. How many different blogs do you read on a regular basis?

I keep track of a number of other similar crime fiction blogs through a separate site I have set up called Crime Fiction Journeys. There I keep track of roughly 100 other blogs. But I also run an RSS reader on my computer and there I track another 50 or so on a daily basis. The RSS reader delivers in most cases the entire post and I can read them on my computer. I belong to a couple of projects like Sunday Salon and Weekly Geeks which between them account for quite a number more.

6. Do you comment on other people's blogs?

I regularly comment on a dozen or so blogs, but with the "projects" I will often make an effort to comment on all the Weekly Geeks postings (about 30 or so of them), and on all Sunday Salon ones who have a crime fiction interest. I like people to comment on my posts so I believe in doing the same.

7. Do you keep track of how many visitors you have? Is so, are you satisfied with your numbers?

I have an "amazing" counter running on my blog, and I also use Sitemeter to monitor my daily count of visitors. I now regularly get over 100 visitors a day, and although that is not huge, it makes me feel my blog posts are worthwhile. I also use Feedjit as that tells me what posts draw people in, and I run Clustrmaps although that doesn't show me much more than locations.

8. Do you ever regret a post that you wrote?

Not yet.

9. Do you think your audience has a true sense of who you are based on your blog?

In the banner at the top of my blog I describe how MYSTERIES IN PARADISE came into being, and then I have a block in the side panel that tells people more.

10. Do you blog under your real name?

Yes, but I use an avatar image rather than my real photo. I use this avatar also on Twitter and FriendFeed so it has sort of become synonymous with me. In my "work" digital footprints I use my "real" photo.

11. Are there topics that you would never blog about?

My posts are almost always related to crime fiction. I would never use my blog for political comment or for commercial purposes.

12. What is the theme/topic of your blog?

It began as a place to post crime fiction reviews, but has expanded into other topics, but always related to crime fiction topics.

13. Do you have more than one blog? If so, why?

I have a number actually

• Crime Fiction Journeys which consists of RSS feeds of crime fiction blogs that I follow. I used to have these links in a bar running down the right hand side of my blog but at around 100 entries it became far too long and unwieldy.
• Smik's Reviews consists of lists of the books I have reviewed. This I created so people could easily locate the reviews, but in reality I think I may be its only visitor.
  It consists of
  
• A-Z AUTHOR LIST
• ALL Reviews in ranked order
• Latest Additions
• 2009 Reviews
• 2008 Reviews
• Agatha Christie Reading Challenge Carnival - I began the Agatha Christie Reading Challenge in 2008 and decided to run a blog carnival that people who read and review Agatha Christie novels could contribute their reviews to. This blog is the result. It publishes only one post each month.

On another blogging platform, I might actually have set these up in a "tabbed" interface rather than as separate blogs. But each blogging platform allows you to do different things, and not others, and for most things Blogger suits me quite well.

• Smik's Learning Space is a blog I use occasionally when I am doing professional development for teachers. In it I store resources for my presentations.
• You Are Never Alone is my "work" blog and its focus is very different, as is its content.

So ultimately I blog because I enjoy it, it enhances my sense of being in a community, and it allows me to exercise some creativity and even use my research skills in a satisfying and purposeful fashion. I never seem to be at a loss for a topic,a nd indeed have had to find some other strategies to keep the number of posts I write down to a sensible number.

The questions if you want to take this meme and run with it for yourself.
1. How long have you been blogging?
2. Why did you start blogging?
3. What have you found to be the benefits of blogging?
4. How many times a week do you post an entry?
5. How many different blogs do you read on a regular basis?
6. Do you comment on other people's blogs?
7. Do you keep track of how many visitors you have? Is so, are you satisfied with your numbers?
8. Do you ever regret a post that you wrote?
9. Do you think your audience has a true sense of who you are based on your blog?
10. Do you blog under your real name?
11. Are there topics that you would never blog about?
12. What is the theme/topic of your blog?
13. Do you have more than one blog? If so, why?

How often do you write a blog post?

I began this year with a resolve to reduce the number of posts I make, to get it down closer to one a day if I could.
Well, I'm not doing very well so far.

In 2008, the first year of this blog, I posted 456 times, a ratio of 1.24.
That works out to 5 times every 4 days.

So far this year I have posted 182 times in 122 days. The ratio is now 1.52
That is 3 times in 2 days, or 6 times in 4 days!

The primary purpose of this blog was a place to post my book reviews.
OK so there were 110 of them last year, and there has been 41 this year.
That totals 151 book reviews out of a total of 638 posts.
That means 487 of my posts are not actually book reviews: 75% (3/4) of them!
I've obviously found other things to write about!

Do other people share my dilemma?
So I've decided to run a poll to find out what fellow bloggers do.
I'll run the poll for 2 weeks.
Look for it in the right hand column: How often do you write a blog post?
The choices: often 3x a day, often 2x a day, daily, 3-4 x a week, 2x a week, weekly
And I hope you'll also come back and comment on this post.