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Jay Whitenoreply@blogger.com2008-07-15T10:09:36.146-05:0011 Ways to Generate Ideas for your Blog</h3><content type="html"><div id="write"><h7 class="write">Written on 7/15/2008 by Syed Abbas of <a href="http://tnerd.com/">TNerd.com</a>.</h7></div> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/silas216/774173197/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_dH0q9hvpVHg/SHy0BGrBzII/AAAAAAAAB7o/xUx-1ABx54o/s400/block.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5223247598906887298" border="0" /></a>“Content is King”, it is true to the core. Creating valuable content is a challenge and doing it regularly is a bigger challenge. I meet quite a few bloggers during conferences and events and one of the most commonly discussed issues among new bloggers is, “How can I create content on a continuous basis? Where do I get the ideas from?” This is one of the major reasons most bloggers start with lot of enthusiasm and quit in despair. It's simple math, content creation on regular basis adds value to a blog which brings more users. Now go in reverse, No content – No Value, No Value – No visitors. I’ve put together few things which have helped me generate ideas and put them in words for my readers on regular basis. <ul><li>Do Not Panic – Have Fun I’ve been there. It’s a beautiful sunny day; you sit down with your laptop to publish a great article only to realize that you don’t know what to write. Panic sets in, “I have to publish an article today and I have no idea what to write about, I don’t even have anything saved in Drafts.” The more you panic the worse it gets. So, you know what? Don’t bother! Think of it as a holiday, go hangout with friends, watch a movie, visit your favorite eat joint, spend time at the library, do whatever it takes to put yourself at ease. While you are out having fun, record your thoughts (if any) which can be potential blog posts. Just record your thoughts at this time don’t spend time thinking if they are really worth a post, do that once you get back home. The point I am trying to make here is that ideas for posts or articles will come to you naturally. All you have to do is look around without worrying about it. Most of the ideas come from regular conversations with friends and others or by something you see at a store on the sidewalk, etc..</li> <li>Feed aggregators This is THE most important source of getting ideas for blog posts. I cannot stress enough on how important this is. If you are a blogger and you do not have a list of blogs you follow through aggregators, then you are missing something really important. Feed aggregators are the fastest medium of getting the latest news and articles from blogs and websites and believe me the sooner you blog about “something” the better it is. If you don’t currently use any aggregators, start building one now! I use <a href="http://google.com/ig">iGoogle</a> and the <a href="http://desktop.google.com/">Google Desktop Web Clips Gadget</a> to get the latest from the blogs and news sites I follow. I can help you build your iGoogle, just shoot me an e-mail at nerd[at]tnerd.com and mention one of the following categories: “Tech News”, “Official Tech Blogs”, “Gadgets and Products” and I will share all the blog feeds I follow under that category. This way you can create your iGoogle page with close to 100 feeds instantly.</li> <li>Social Media Sites: Social Media sites are a very good source of certified interesting and valuable information. I say “certified”, because information on these sites is posted by readers like you and I who find it interesting enough to be shared with others. Few of the sites I Follow are: <ul><li><a href="http://digg.com/">Digg.com</a> </li><li><a href="http://stumbleupon.com/">Stumbleupon.com</a> </li><li><a href="http://twitter.com/">Twitter.com</a> </li><li><a href="http://sphinn.com/">Sphinn.com</a> </li><li><a href="http://mixx.com/">Mixx.com</a></li></ul> Feel free to add me to your friends list on <a href="http://digg.com/users/syedabbas">Digg</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/abbassyed">Twitter</a> or <a href="http://syedabbas.stumbleupon.com/">Stumbleupon</a>. </li> <li>Visit Forums, QnA, News sites, etc. Identify the nature of blog you are running and the kind of content your users like to read. Once you have that, find forums and sites discussing related information. Make a list of such forums and sites and be a regular visitor. Comments and users discussions on such sites will generate enough leads to keep you busy writing for a while. Example forums and sites: <ul><li><a href="http://answers.yahoo.com/">Yahoo Answers</a> </li><li><a href="http://webmasterworld.com/">Webmaster World</a> </li><li><a href="http://news.google.com/">Google News </a></li></ul></li> <li>Learn and Teach Did you do anything recently which required a lot of reading and research on multiple sites? If yes, then write about it (do pass links to the original source). If you had to learn something and did not know about it then the chances are, another million people on the internet are searching for it too. So write about it. For example: <ul><li>How to download videos from YouTube and other Video sites? </li><li>How to search for different file formats?</li></ul></li> <li>Keyword Logs of your site Sometimes you will see keywords on the logs which does not match the content on your site but can be a good topic for the next valuable post. Following image has a keyword which will get me to research if .rar files can be opened online. If yes then that will make a good post for users wanting to know how it’s done. I use <a href="http://analytics.google.com/">Google Analytics</a> to track visitor information on my tech blog. It’s a free tool which can be used on any site or blog including <a href="http://blogger.com/">blogger</a> and <a href="http://wordpress.org/">Wordpress</a> blogs.</li> <li>Watch TV This is the easiest, just watch TV. Try watching news, tech shows, product launches, etc, instead of CSI or Lost. This is not only a good source of information but sometimes offers the opportunity of breaking the news on the internet, as you know breaking news has its own advantages. TV can certainly help but it depends on the kind of blog you run and the information you are looking for. For example a tech blog writer will greatly benefit from a program such as <a href="http://www.bbcworldnews.com/click">Click – BBC world</a>.</li> <li>Software Sites Visiting sites like <a href="http://downloads.com/">Downloads.com</a> will help you find new software that is hitting the market.. If you manage to find one that has recently launched, is very useful and not many blogs have reviewed it yet, then that could be a potential article. Such sites usually offer a list of recently added or released software’s and utilities which can be very useful or you can go the software list page and sort by “Date” to see the latest additions. Example sites: <ul><li><a href="http://tucows.com/">Tucows.com</a> </li><li><a href="http://downloads.com/">Downloads.com</a> </li><li><a href="http://versiontracker.com/macosx/">Versiontracker.com/macosx/</a> </li></ul></li> <li>Events and Conferences Keep a track of events and conferences; these can be potential blog posts. If published at the right time, these blogs can attract a lot of visitors and subscribers. Example events and conferences: <ul><li>iPhone launch </li><li>SunTech Days </li><li>4th of July </li><li>Valentine’s Day </li></ul> </li><li>Track comments and e-mails on the blog Some of the top running articles on my technology blog are the result of tracking comments and e-mail from the blog. This can prove to be one of the best sources of ideas for posts and articles as users mostly leave comments asking questions. Few of these questions might require a lot of explanation in terms of following steps to accomplish a task or simply explaining a concept. So keep your eyes open and never let any comment or e-mail go without a notice.</li> <li>Last but not the least… Sleep well, eat well, go to the gym and stay fit. Bloggers usually work long hours and don’t get enough sleep which results in loss of focus. Not only blogging but anything you do, requires focus and best efforts for excellent results. The only way you can focus and give your 100% is by staying fit by sleeping enough and eating right.</li></ul>I hope these tips were helpful. -Syed <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=ae59fbb9a7255b79f5fd357a0b946c72" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=ae59fbb9a7255b79f5fd357a0b946c72" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?a=D7HTqP"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?i=D7HTqP" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=damZsj"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=damZsj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=oaKkij"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=oaKkij" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=JCR2xj"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=JCR2xj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=wysAsj"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=wysAsj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=h0RqvJ"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=h0RqvJ" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DumbLittleMan/~4/336147625" height="1" width="1"/></content><author><name>Jay White</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><updated>2008-07-14T11:40:02.448-05:00</updated><title type="text">Improve Your Life By Practicing Positive Anger</h3><content type="html"><div id="write"><h7 class="write">Written on 7/14/2008 by Abhijeet Mukherjee, of <a href="http://www.jeetblog.com/">Jeet Blog</a>.</h7></div> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jantik/12115306/sizes/m/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_dH0q9hvpVHg/SHt_clxfpjI/AAAAAAAAB7g/PHwkqnM4V_U/s400/anger.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5222908322018993714" border="0" /></a>Positive anger? Yeah right. When I am pissed at someone, it clearly is not a positive vibe and I am definitely not in the mood to bail on my principles simply to make peace. Right? Are you with me?? Well, as stubborn as you may be, there may be another way out of this. I'd like to mention a short story narrated by Tushar Gandhi, who is a great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. Yes, this is the Gandhi, the most prominent leader of the Indian freedom struggle and known as 'Father of the nation' in India. I read this story in a newspaper sometime back, so I'll try and recollect the main part of the story. The story goes like this - One day Tushar's father (Mahatma Gandhi's son) had to attend a conference in the city and asked him if he could drive him to the city, which was about 20 miles away. Tushar agreed and as per the plan, during the 2 hours when his father will be busy, Tushar will take the car to the service station and get a routine check-up. However, since Tushar was young and restless (he was 18 at that time), he instead decided to go and watch a movie and hence was 3 hours late. When his father asked him why he was late, Tushar lied and said that the car repair took a lot of time. Eventually he confessed but his father was very disappointed and angry. Dumbfounded at how this could have happened, his father walked 20 miles to get home. On the way, he pondered where he went wrong with Tushar's upbringing. Tushar was dumbfounded at this decision of his father. Instead of punishing his son, he decided to punish himself for his son's error in judgment. This incident had a profound impact on Tushar and he never lied again. In the above story, we could see that Tushar's father was definitely angry with his son but instead of bursting out and yelling at him, he decided to be calm and follow a non-violent method to vent his anger. At the same time he made his son realize his mistake. This is what we might call "positive anger"- anger that has a positive effect. Anger is a natural phenomenon and suppressing that may not be a good solution always. Instead we can practice such positive anger in our life through these tips: Practice Patience Patience is the foundation of positive anger. An impatient person is sure to lose his cool in such situations. Hence you should practice patience (yes, believe me or not, it can be practiced!) through meditation and observing others who are more patient than you. Reason before Action Any step taken in haste is bound to produce unwanted consequences. In the story, if Tushar's father would have started shouting at him then the corresponding impact would have probably lasted on Tushar for a short term and he would have never narrated this story. Hence before you take any action, think, reason and then decide, even when you are very angry. Breathe, breathe and breathe If you really cannot control your anger and just want to shout, then wait and instead of doing that, start taking deep, long breaths. Yes, this is a common technique used to control anger and get the blood flowing in your brain and its usually very effective. Celebrate Life You should embrace trouble as a part of life and instead of loosing your cool in such situations, work with a calm mind towards a resolution. When you do resolve it, celebrate your success. Yes, celebrate those small moments of cheer and happiness and be thankful for having such a wonderful life! Hence, anger, if " practiced " in the right manner can have a profound and a very positive impact on your life thereby taking care of a lot of further troubles which could arise out of anger. 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