(… and other assorted blatherings because I’m of the “Oh look, something shiny” crew).

(I was going to put a youTube link here to but no matter how much I tried it wouldn’t let me. I finally realized that I can’t embed video into my blog but it still didn’t explain why the link below *points finger and indicates* did work. I’ve spent the good part of day trying to figure that out so this blog entry is, at least partially, thwarted but I thought I’d get it out there.)

Bad news people, if you’re just on the .com site, it’s very limited and if you ARE going to transfer over to .org of course that’s some complicated programming b.s. too. FTP – File Transfer Protocol … for instance. (Remember, everyone’s out to make money. If you have it, use it! I don’t have that luxury. Plus you have to consider the cost of the domain, host, etc., etc. versus the profit – which in this case and for the foreseeable future is likely to be negligible at best.)

Now what was I rambling about again? Oh yeah, it let me insert this link *points accusingly at link below* but not the “Oh look something shiny” one WTF? Anyway, that wasn’t the point of this section (even if I did waste a day trying to figure it out …)

***** (still haven’t figured out how to centre text so this will have to do for now)

And if you have not seen Finding Nemo, I feel bad for you, oh and if you really want to up your game, it just came out in 3D! Now where were we?

As defined by urban dictionary

newb:

“Someone who is new to the activity that they are currently partaking in. Very often this term pertains to gamers using computer games. Contrary to popular belief, a newb and a n00b are not the same thing, as a newb can and will get better where as a n00b will partake in activities meant mainly to aggravate other players.”

newbs deserve a chance to grow and become better.

As a noun.

“You jump with the space bar, don’t be such a newb”
“Obviously, this item is better… newb.”
“Since your just a newb, I’ll help you out.”

In case you didn’t already know.

Blogging does not really have one straight definition, I talk about that later on.

*****

If you want to make money most people say, you must commit to writing on a daily basis. You must be focused, willing to invest a substantial amount of time and some money to your blog and you CANNOT come and go as you please. Successful blogs generate daily revenue by maintaining interest from their readers and advertisers alike. (How often you should write is another contentious topic.)

If you’re placing ads, Ad Sense from Google is the way to go, this is not up for debate.

In here I will have links that detail every topic so you can go back and read in detail about the topic without having to search around the net. Please note, I do not necessarily agree with everything that stated in these links and I plan to directly juxtapose some of the advice given, but I want you to have choices without being overwhelmed. I’ve just picked links that seemed to have the information I was looking for without being too extensive.

Hopefully this will expedite your education – good luck!

For example, here’s how to build a successful blog.

As I will state time and again, if you know absolutely nothing about blogging, or computers in general – you’ve come to the right place, for the most part, neither do I. And remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question. Feel free to ask me anything and I’ll try my best to find the answer. As well, this is me learning as I go so any constructive criticism, advice or just plain kudos are all welcome.

(Oh, word to the wise, don’t write a page-long entry in your WordPress and then close out of the window before saving or publishing … d’oh! I write all my stuff in Word first and then put it on my blog, that way you have a back-up if need be and all the links there so you don’t have to keep going back and forth. As well, I back my stuff up on an alternate hard drive. You may even want to have a printed copy of everything you write if that makes you feel better. Remember there are no rules cast in stone but be sure to find something that works for you.)

Second of all, I would really make sure you have a good firewall and internet security system in place, yes it might be a little more time-consuming in the short run but it beats hell out of paying $300 to have your computer wiped and possibly losing all your information.

If you’re good with all of the above and are relatively comfortable in your present surroundings, let’s move on together shall we? (Yeah, I’m scared too.)

Okay so we’ve come to the decision that this is it, this is how I’m going to change my life, this is how I’m going to lose the repression of the Monday to Friday, nine to five burden and write a blog and make money doing it and I’ll be free, free!

Oh but wait a minute, how do I do that? Well apparently it all works from banners and hits. People read your blog, advertisers see that people are reading your blog and they advertise. People click on these advertisements from your blog and then you make money – easy peasy! (Oh wait, did you say people read my blog? Yeah, I know, I haven’t figured that part out yet either.) Not only do they have to read, but they have to keep coming back, that means not only do you have to hook the reader but you have to leave them hanging for more. (I am for the time being holding off on the whole banner thingy, etc. because I’m going to a conference this weekend and I want to see if there’s a way to do it without polluting my page with advertising …)

Which makes me wonder, so if I’m writing a blog is it protected in any way from plagiarism or can anybody just saunter along and just casually yoink my words verbatim and repost them? Hmm, I think that’s a question for much much later.

See you tomorrow!