More Things on a Stick Thing 25: Blogger's Toolkit (or in the common parlance..."How to Pimp Your Blog")

20 Usability Tips For Your Blog

Following my Master Plan to be more methodical and thoughtful this time around with the 23 Things, I'm going to hit every part of the "DO"s. There are a ton of Things in Thing 25 so this post will be a long one. I considered breaking it up but I have other post topics I'd like to cover for myself so keep your 2.0 eyes peeled here for the Thing 25 Saga.

1. Pick a topic for your blog.

I absolutely agree with this. Although it may seem initially appealing to do stream of consciousness blogging about whatever pleases you, even you will soon become bored. If you are writing for yourself or your imaginary audience about something that you are really fascinated by, you will be inspired to write far more frequently.

It is cheating, and a BAD SIGN when you subtitle your blog "...and anything else I feel like writing about". You can certainly offer off-topic items, and write about something not specifically on your theme, but its best to just slide those posts in under the wire rather than be sort of in-your-face about the whole thing.

I will say, counter to this in a way, if you are a public library reference librarian, you get every question in the world, a high percentage of which are unique things you've never been asked, no matter how long you've been in the field. This gives you huge leeway in your blog because the sky is the limit. You actually can talk about anything at all and be spot on topic. Tis good to be a librarian :)



2. Encourage comments

I certainly encourage comments and allow anonymous readers the ability to comment. This is really nice for those who read your blog but don't have one of their own. I would not get discouraged if there are no comments, nor can you assume no comments mean no readers. Blogger has a nice step by step help page on enabling comments:

How do I enable comments on my blog?

If you'd like to see if someone really is reading or if your words are floating unread in the ether, get a site use counter (probably covered later in these things).
I use Blog Patrol here, which gives a count and lets you know what people are reading and searching for that brings them to your blog. It can be a little quirky signing in sometimes, not loading, but you can just check later in the day.

3. Make it easy to subscribe:

Easier said than done! I recall having difficulty with Feedburner in Round 1 and here it is again. I bet this is some tricky way of having people re-do some of the tough stuff so they get the knack of it. Hmmpf.

Feedburner has been purchased by Google. They have a sign in on the Feedburner site that does not take your Google sign in. However, if you circuitously get to Google's page you're fine. Why they make you jump through that sign in hoop, I don't know.

In fact, signing in through Google only lets me have the ability to burn feeds and connect with an aggregator such as Bloglines. I am going to let this go for the nonce.

4. Include an About Page

I made a few changes to my original page. Not many.


5. Present your ideas visually

I really like adding some type of visual to each post. Even if I have alot of text, the perfect picture or cartoon or altered image brightens things up.

6. Keep posts short and to the point

This is mostly a good idea but it has to depend on what you're writing about. For pithy posts...go to Twitter!

7. Use subheadings for long posts

I understand the principle of this but in truth I rarely read what is continued on another page. This is probably a necessary technique when you have many updates or multiple posters and frequent updates. For a solitary blogger, it seems unnecessary.

8. Link abundantly

You definitely should credit others and link to the work of others who enhance or support your view.

9. Make headlines descriptive

This will make the reader decide to stop and look. If I am laughing at my heading as I type it, I know the post will be a good one.

10. Archive by topic

I like the idea of this but I'm already lagging terribly on these Things so I'm not going to ponder it now. I also fear the topical archive might take up too much sidebar space.

11. Include a list of related posts beneath each post.

I think in a more technical blog this would be useful. It seems like hubris to do it on a blog you write for fun.

12. Allow users to contact you offline

I had a mailbox for the blog briefly and had nothing but you've won a lottery in a foreign country scam-mail.

Currently someone could leave a Meebo message, but I am seldom logged in there and can never remember my password :(

13. Present your real viewpoint

Absolutely.

14. Write for your future employer

My future employer is aways out in the timeline, but it will be me, retired and sitting in the sun with my spouse and beagles so, I'm okay on this one :) :)

15. Include a Top Posts Section

Again, this seems self-promotional so it is not for me.

16. Provide an Index

The one listed is alas for WordPress only.

17. Get your own URL

If I ever become famous I'll be sure to get one.

18. Include a Recent Posts section

Good idea for many, but for my purposes, it takes up prime sidebar real estate. I'm trying to recommend books and authors and other sites as much as I am interested in what I write myself.

19. Reward commenters for commenting

Excellent for high traffic sites, or as a means to promote comments on a high traffic site but I think it might also discourage some to be listed with a puny commenter score.

20. Post Often

Definitely a goal, but there is in truth not always time or inspiration.


More Useful Blogger Tools

Post by Email This could be useful while traveling but otherwise not so much.

Google Gadgets I'm a big fan of gadgets, for instance the Feedjit map that shows where my visitors hail from.

Make your Blog Talk!

The Blog Typealyzer

Since the Book Besotted Librarian and Carol Has Her Nose In A Book were buzzing about the blog/personality analyzing tool the Typealyzer (sounds like it might kill you in your sleep, doesn't it?) I found it and my blog reveals:

ISTP - The Mechanics
The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

Paragraph one is fine but paragraph two? No way.

Survivor: Tocantins My Early Calls: Survivors vs Cannon Fodder

I'm geared up for tomorrow night's show. For the first time ever I'm going to try to call who has the best chances of survival based solely on the pictures and biographies on CBS's page.

Crazy!

I've divided the contestants into two groups, the Survivors (who seem likely to have the best chances from what little we know) and the Cannon Fodder (those who will be scooting on out, torches blowing in the wind.)

We all know the game is loaded with surprises and that people disintegrate into their bare selves by about day three, but we have to start the guessing game someplace.

Cannon Fodder!

Benjamin
Brendan
Carolina
Debra
Erinn
Joe
Sandy
Sierra
Sydney
Tyson

Survivors! (Best of luck folks!)

Candace
Jerry
JT
Spencer
Stephen
Taj

Edit: After watching the show, I think I'm wrong about Stephen. He seemed very high strung and I fear he will be on the Cannon Fodder pile all too soon.

Chapter & Verse Book Club at Red Balloon Bookstore for adults who love children's books

This would be me! Although I'm not and have never been a children's librarian, ah how I do love the books. Perhaps because I had access to libraries (school only) beginning in about sixth grade, books written for that age and a bit younger and a bit older are always enjoyable to me.

There was an article in the paper a week or so ago on this club and I have kept it in the back of my mind because I'd love to go.

From Red Balloon's web site:

It's a Book Club!
Good News for Children’s Literature Enthusiasts!

Beginning February 19 and continuing on the third Thursday of each month, a book club for adults who love to read and discuss children’s literature will meet at The Red Balloon Bookshop from 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. The club, called Chapter & Verse, is co-sponsored by Children’s Literature Network and The Red Balloon Bookshop. Membership in Chapter & Verse is free. Participants who attend meetings at The Red Balloon Bookshop will receive a 20% discount on the price of book-club titles.

Discussions about children’s and young-adult fiction, nonfiction, picture books, and poetry will be led by Gail Nordstrom, who is the youth services supervisor at Stillwater Public Library. Gail served on the 2002 Newbery Award Committee for the American Library Association and has organized metro-area Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz Award mock discussions for teachers and librarians since 1997.

The titles for the February 19 meeting are: Madapple, a mystery for young-adult readers by Christine Medrum, and How I Learned Geography, a picture book by Uri Shulevitz.

Visit www.childrensliteraturenetwork.org to find the book list (under the Events heading) for the next several months.

Chalice by Robin McKinley

Mirasol has been chosen as the “Chalice” after the unexpected and violent demise of her predecessor. In a society with a very hierarchical structure (Overlord/Master/Chalice/Grand Seneschal) her role is to ceremonially, psychologically and physically bind the land, the Master and the counselors together.

The Master of the land or “demesne” is also new and untrained. The younger brother of the now dead former Master had been sent off to be trained as a Priest of Elemental Fire, training which alters the acolyte physically into a Being a Fire.

The untrained pair work to fulfill their obligations never sure they are doing the right thing. Perhaps because they are in the same awkward, isolated position, they make extra efforts to work together and to find a way to heal their land.

Running through the narrative are bees. Mirasol was responsible for keeping an area of woodlands which has a small cabin and bee hives. The bees, like the land, respond to Mirasol. They produce honey for her in amounts and qualities such as has never been seen. Mirasol discovers that adding honey to her ceremonial healing chalices makes them more effective.

The storytelling, like the hum of bees on a hot lazy summer’s day was refreshing and relaxing. There is a great deal of power in celebrating the rhythm and cycle of life, nature and human relationships.

Mostly Mysteries: Joan Maze

I try to keep a mystery theme here though I often stray. One of the things I hope to do is to feature Minnesota mystery authors whenever I can.

Today, a long time customer came in who I know has been working to get her Romance novels published. She has been working on a mystery series on the side as well (with romance elements liberally sprinkled in).

She has a guest column on the Chasing Heroes Blog and though it is "under construction" I'm all admiration for the work she is doing on a web site of her own.

Joan's book will be available as a downloadable audio. Keep an eye on her site for more details. Good luck to her!

Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

The third novel in the Inkheart Trilogy delves further into the story of the Inkworld and its inhabitants. Funke’s villains really come to the fore in this volume, especially the immortal , yet rotting, Adderhead, and his dangerous daughter Violante. As a counterpoint to them, Mo, the original “Reader” takes on the role of the "Bluejay" a masked robber who helps Adderhead’s victims.

The story takes on a life of its own that neither the original Inkheart author Fenoglio, nor the twisted upstart plagiarist Orpheus can quite control. There are many questions about the real world vs. the Inkworld and whether our characters can or should stay in the Inkworld-if they survive.

Although the book is the third in a trilogy, certain events lead the hopeful reader to think we might see more of the Inkworld and our heroes and villains in the future.

This is a suspenseful and rich story for anyone who loves books and reading and wishes they could step into the pages of a beloved imaginary world.

So Lost: The Little Prince (Spoilers of course, bozoid)

We interrupt this non-serious blog with a note on last night's episode of Lost.

This was the most straightforward episode in a long while. It actually drove the plot forward in a fairly linear manner (despite the Time Jumps).

The questions that arise from it are:

Everyone is on the dock except Hurley (who will arrive via RottenLawyerMobile shortly we can assume) and John's body, correct?

How much time of the "70 hours" that they had to work with has elapsed?

Why are they at "slip 23"? And will Penny's Ship "The Searcher" land in that particular dock shortly as well? This would bring Desmond who is a "key" of some sort right into the "return-to-the island-fray".

Will Charles Widmore and the cloaked woman who we assume is Daniel Faraday's mom also show up? If they both get back to the island, what happens then? Would they actually want to get back?

If Daniel and crew make it to the Orchid and someone (I'm guessing Daniel or John) turns the wheel to move the island just as all of the other players are gathered in one place on the dock, will this bring all of the people on the dock to the island?

If the wheel turner is Daniel and Desmond his "Constant" is among the dock group, then will Daniel hold his place and stay on the island rather than being moved back to regular land?

If the wheel turner is John, can he convince everyone on the dock to come back to save the remaining people from the plane--the fact that they know he is "dead" could have a huge impact on their judgement. Perhaps the dead body of John is a place holder that keeps the "live" John from moving back to normal space or in fact it allows him to return to normal space and still return to the island.

Note the episode title "The Little Prince". Does this refer to Aaron, and is there a tie to the book The Little Prince by Antoine de St. Exupery's novel?

Final notes: I love the Rousseau character and it was both lovely and sad to see her young, sweet caring self and to know what would happen to her shortly.

I KNEW Jin was alive! He and Sun are two of the best characters on the show and unlike some of the cast, their characters have changed and grown so much. I know Sun would go back to the island for him in a heartbeat, but..her little baby is in Japan. What am I thinking? I'm sure Ben is having her transported to the dock as we speak.

Talking about Mysteries

I attended my first ever book discussion group this morning. We had a small but very lively group. We agreed to read a variety of mystery subgenres, and that we would rotate into the mystery mix novels of suspense as well.

We wanted to be able to read older classic titles and authors as well as newer titles and authors. The older authors can be a problem just because often it is difficult to find multiple copies of them for a whole group to read.

In cases like these we will read any book we can find by that author for the discussion, and we will discuss their work more generally and look for common themes and perhaps methods of presenting and solving crimes.

I've agreed to do the author background, discussions and read-alikes.

This will be alot of fun, and I'm glad I chose mysteries as my first experience with book groups.

These are our first selections:

February

Daughter of Time/Josephine Tey

March

Murder in the Vicarage/Agatha Christie (Note the group is meeting Tuesday March 17th instead of Tuesday March 10th this month.)

April

Any book by A. A. Fair

May

The Devil's Teardrop/Jeffrey Deaver

June

Woman in White/Wilkie Collins

Mr. D.O.A. Wayfarer Part II

"Oh no (Mr. D.O.A.), there is no seafood on this table. Lake crab yes, but certainly no seafood. (Hidden in the dumpling that looks like Christmas ornament.) The chow mein looks more normal than it did in person."

The elegant dumplings in the chafing dish are filled with Lake Crab which is not seen as seafood or fish.



Taken with the very handy iPhone on the streets of Shanghai or Hangzhou, Zhejiang (he'll correct me).



Here we have Mr. D.O.A. posing in a "KTV" room. Wildly popular, this is a personal karaoke room for you and your friends. All of the songs were in Chinese, so Mr. D.O.A. shyly said no he couldn't possibly sing along.



Wonder of wonders! They had beer and Led Zeppelin up their sleeves! Here he is, a virtual Robert Plant, singing "Stairway to Heaven". That deep old golden voice of his must have been mesmerizing.

I have no pictures of the ultra relaxing cigar smoking session that apparently left him a bit green and...well you know.