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Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine Vol 01 Issue 01
------- Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine -------
Vol 1, Issue 1
Welcome to the very first issue of the "Clearing Up the Confusion"
e-zine. I'm looking forward to chatting with you every couple of
weeks. My goal is to tell you about some of the cool things I've
found out on the web, books I've read, or thoughts I've had about
running your own business and the technology that can help. Articles
might be about tools to improve your website, how to organize your
life, or just to entertain and amuse. Sit back and enjoy! I always
enjoy hearing from you, so if you have any comments or suggestions,
please send them to me at gpeters@cyberdatasolns.com.
Greg Peters,
Feb 19, 2007
Table of Contents
1. Article
2. Blog Posts
3. Guest Article
4. Fine Print
1. Article
I recently visited Huron Valley Ambulance as a part of the Leadership
Ann Arbor course. There, I found out an interesting fact. When a
call comes in for an ambulance, the dispatcher tells the closest
ambulance to go to the intersection nearest the location. So, when
they roll out, the drivers don't know the exact address. Dispatch
gets that information later, while the ambulance is en route. As they
near the destination, the EMT's adjust their path to go to the
specific address. They save time by acting on *sufficient*, but not
total information.
Sometimes you just have to start. I've been meaning to start an
e-zine for several months now. My biggest challenge to the process?
The usual -- paralysis of analysis. I always have to come up with the
"perfect" plan before I start. I have to research the software,
create the template, decide on frequency, format, and theme, line up
or write articles, etc, etc, etc. And nothing gets done.
So, today I decided just to start.
One of my biggest concerns about beginning this process is that, once
you hop on the back of the tiger, you'd better hang on tight to both
his ears. I was worried that I might not have enough time to write,
or not be able to find enough to write about. Of course, with
services such as ezinearticles.com (more on that in the future) and
with the pace of development out on the Web today, that latter worry
was probably a needless concern. As for the former, I write emails
all day long. Some of them are longer than any article *I* would want
to read.
Now, there are *plenty* of tools to support the creation and
management of e-zines. I'll probably look into those in the future.
For right now, though, a simple text-based format and the mailing list
facilities (called "MailMan") provided by my hosting service are all
that I need to get going. As my wife, numerous books, my mom, several
business coaches, colleagues, friends, aquaintances, television
commercials, and even a few complete strangers on the street have told
me, just start, you can make it better later.
Wish me luck!
Copyright 2007, Greg Peters
2. Blog Posts
Links to posts on the "Clearing Up the Confiusion" Blog from the last
year:
July 27, 2006 -- Are You Board Yet?
http://clearing-confusion.blogspot.com/2006/07/are-you-board-yet.html
January 03, 2007 -- Cool Tools: Picasa
http://clearing-confusion.blogspot.com/2007/01/cool-tools-picasa.html
3. Guest Article
Excerpt from "Blogging Schmogging: 6 Ways to Pump Up Your Posting
Prowess" by Scott Ginsberg
It's the most important part of the Internet today. It's a highly
controversial issue in the area of free speech. It's the reason
anybody in the world -- businessperson, grad student, church pastor,
pilot or teenager - can have a voice. It's a blog. And if you don't
know what that word means, prepare to be enlightened. Let's start with
the facts. The following list will give you a crash course on blogging
basics:
# A blog is a journal that is available on the web, short for the word
"weblog"
# Blogs generally represent the personality of an individual or
website
# A blog is a frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts
and Web links
# The activity of updating a blog is "blogging," someone who keeps a
blog is a "blogger," and all the blogs in the world represent the
"blogosphere"
# Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people
with little or no technical background to update and maintain the
blog
# A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life
and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site,
although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people
# People maintained blogs long before the term was coined, but the
trend gained momentum with the introduction of automated published
systems, most notably Blogger at blogger.com
# The content and purposes of blogs varies greatly -- from links and
commentary about other web sites, to news about a
company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays,
project updates, even fiction."
Ok. Now that you're up to speed on the term, let's explore six ways to
pump up your posting prowess.
TIP #1: Consistency
Technorati is THE authority on what's going on in the world of
blogs. According to their website, they currently track 20.8 million
blogs. Sadly, many of them lack consistency. And too many people
create a blog simply for the sake of creating a blog. In other words,
they're not updated regularly. The blogger posts a dozen or so posts
initially, and then forgets all about it.
Therein lies the first key point: if you're going to blog, blog
often. After all, it IS a marketing tool. You wouldn't run one
newspaper ad on a random Tuesday and never advertise again. You'd do
it consistently. So at the least, post more than twice a week.
To read the rest of this article go to:
http://www.hellomynameisscott.com/articles.aspx?arGUID=10bf8220-77ba-42ce-aa01-0a4b71ed733d
4. The Fine Print
Questions:
If you have any questions, concerns or comments regarding the Clearing
Up the Confusion E-zine, please email Greg Peters at:
gpeters@cyberdatasolns.com
This content may be forwarded in full, with copyright and contact
information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a
not for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in
writing from Greg Peters is required, with notification to the
original author.
We never send the "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-zine uninvited, and we
NEVER share, sell or rent our mailing list to anyone. Your privacy is
safe with us.
