PostOnFire - Another Digg inspired site geared towards bloggers
Dec 20, 2007 Blogging
Last night while clicking around the interweb I happened upon PostOnFire with a Digg style interface, allowing users to submit and vote on articles. Like BlogBookmark which I also posted about recently, PostOnFire is for bloggers. I haven’t even had a moment to try it yet, but I’ll probably submit some posts there later today and see how it works out.
PostOnFire doesn’t have near as many categories to post your articles to as BlogBookmark, but perhaps they’ll add more in the future. It looks like the site is off to a nice start though.
Is anyone else using this site yet? How is it working out for you?
Popularity: 7% [?]
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A Christmas inspired meme
Dec 19, 2007 Blogging
The last few days have been a little rough. An uncle of mine passed away and though I wasn’t terribly close to him, it’s been difficult because it makes the third sibling my grandmother has lost in less than a year - this time her youngest brother. The fact that it occurred so close to Christmas only made it worse of course. She’s been dealing with it remarkably well, though I know she definitely has a very heavy heart right now. It’s been hard to really get into the Christmas spririt, but thankfully Tish tagged me with this Christmas meme, so hopefully this will help.
The object is simple. Answer the following questions about Christmas as it pertains to you and then pass it on to seven friends.
1. Wrapping or gift bags?
Whatever is easiest. I am terrible at wrapping. I’m the guy who hands out gifts that look like they were dropped from a second story window.
2. Real or artificial tree?
Usually artificial. When I was a kid though I remember going a couple a times with my grandfather to cut down our own tree. Nothing like trekking a couple miles through waist deep snow to retrieve a tree you’re going to use for a couple weeks and then dispose of.
3. When do you put up the tree?
Usually a week or so before Christmas.
4. When do you take the tree down?
After New Year’s.
5. Do you like egg nog?
I don’t mind it. It’s an acquired taste though I suppose.
6. Favorite gift received as a child?
My very first keyboard. It was a dinky little Casio thing that had a sampler built in to it, so I could record short sound clips and then make music with them. I was about eight years old at the time, so more often than not I was making music with fart sounds. Good stuff.
7. Do you have a nativity scene?
Nay.
8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Probably socks or underwear.
9. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Either is fine with me.
10. Favorite Christmas Movie?
A Christmas Story. Best Christmas movie ever.
11. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
When I get around to it.
12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Frosted sugar cookies. Mmm.
13. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Colored works for me.
14. Favorite Christmas song(s)?
I guess it would have to be Jingle Bells, since I often find myself singing it even when it’s not Christmas time.
15. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
A little bit of both.
16. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Probably not. I’m terrible with names.
17. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Star
18. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning?
As soon as possible.
19. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
Bratty kids begging their parents for toys they’ll use three times and never touch again.
20. Do you decorate your tree in any specific theme or color?
Not really.
21. What do you leave for Santa?
There is no Santa. Shhhh. Don’t tell anyone.
22. Least favorite holiday song?
Probably also Jingle Bells. Go figure.
23. Favorite ornament?
I’ve never really had one.
24. Family tradition?
We usually have at least a couple gatherings to exchange gifts and consume obscene amounts of food.
25. Ever been to Midnight Mass or late-night Christmas Eve services?
Can’t say that I have, no.
I shall tag the following folks for this meme: Mark, Polli, Marzie, Christy, Bush, Aaron, Bucky
Popularity: 6% [?]
Indie film resources which may also apply and appeal to video bloggers
As I talked about in a recent post, my cousin and I are currently working on a second screenplay which we have every intention of turning into a film. Depending on the results, our goal is to look for options to generate revenue from that film and any we create in the future. Certainly we’d love to sell our ideas and have them distributed properly, but until that day comes we’ll have to rely on other means.
I spend a lot of time scouring the web for independent film resources, tutorials, tips, anything I can find that’s useful. Recently I found this great list of sites that pay film and video producers for their content, compiled by Scott Kirsner. There’s several sites on there I already knew about, but many I also had never heard of. What’s great about the list is how Scott breaks all the sites down by what subject matter they accept and how they pay. He also provides some insightful commentary for each site as well.
So how does this apply to video blogging? Well obviously there’s a LOT of bloggers today creating video presentations on their blogs. Some use the medium to teach, others do it for the sake of humor. For those that aren’t currently doing so, why not consider ways to generate revenue with those videos? While not all of the websites on Scott’s list would be appropriate for video blog content, I believe there’s several that are worth considering. I’ve highlighted a few of them below.
Metacafe - I’m sure many have heard of this one. Metacafe pays based on views, once a video has surpassed the 20,000 views threshold. That seems like a lot, but if you create compelling enough content, that shouldn’t be entirely impossible on a site as well trafficked as Metacafe.
Brightcove - According to Scott’s information, any content of any length is acceptable on Brightcove. Video producers may either set a price per download or simply allow Brightcove to insert advertisements into their videos. If you set your own price you’ll make 70% of the sale, otherwise ad supported videos will net you 50% of the revenue generated.
Expert Village - If you consider yourself an expert in your niche and are already creating video tutorials for your readers, this may be a site of interest to you. Producers earn between $100 and $1,000 per video. It should be noted that Expert Village pays for exclusive rights to the content.
Break.com - Accepts both short videos (under three minutes) as well as short produced films over three minutes long. Short videos receive $400 while short films earn $2,000.
Hopefully a few months or so from now I can create a follow up to this post and speak from experience how well each of these sites work. In the meantime if you’re currently using any of them or make a decision to, let me know how it works out for you!
Popularity: 5% [?]
A little link love - week 29
Dec 15, 2007 Blogging, Link Love
I think I kinda sorta may have skipped a week or two on my link love posts, but that’s okay, better late than never, eh? This week I’m going to try something a little different and post a blurb from each article. If it sounds like something that would interest you, by all means, go check it out!
Did you know there are tons of directories specifically developed for promoting your RSS feeds? It is fairly common sense, the more subscribers you get to your RSS feeds the more visitors you will have to your website.
By the use of Feed Analysis, the number of subscribers for each month is neatly shown on the column chart. You can also view the number of subscribers, hits, views and clicks for every single day from the line chart. Of course, the best/worst day of the week is also available which is displayed on the pie chart.
You can’t overcome blogger’s block unless you actually, physically write. If you’re having trouble diving into the post you want to write. Start with something else. Write an email. Write a to do list. Write a description of what you had for lunch. It doesn’t matter.
Are automated plugins more harm than good?
The plugins that automatically email a commenter or display a blurb at the top for first-time visitors suggesting they subscribe to your RSS feed might be hurting you. I’m not going to single them out by their names, but you know which ones I’m talking about.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Win a bunch of Entrecard credits!
Dec 14, 2007 Blogging
Hey gang! I just made a new contest post over on BlogsWeLuv. One lucky winner will receive 100 credits to their Entrecard account. If you haven’t signed up with them yet, you really should. In the short time that I’ve been using it on BlogsWeLuv, we’ve received nearly 300 new visitors. Not bad!
There are three ways to earn entries in the contest. One entry for subscribing to the BlogsWeLuv feed, another if you participate in our Ten Questions with YOU feature and one more for blogging about the contest. Even if you don’t win, submitting your ten questions is a great idea. It’s simple and free publicity for your blog!
Also there’s still time to enter our monthly “Win a Review” contest which Tish expertly takes care of each month. Suggest a great blog to be reviewed on BlogsWeLuv and if that blog is chosen, not only will it be reviewed, but YOUR blog will get a review as well. Cool, eh? I thought so =)
Popularity: 4% [?]
