This is our newest client. The Ron Paul for President 2012 Hamilton County Tennessee http://www.dailypaul.com/170415/ron-paul-for-president-meeting-to-be-held-in-hamilton-county.
Filed under Uncategorized
Zombi Candi opens store in Brainerd (via Around and About Chattanooga)
Best client and store in Chattanooga!
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Filed under Uncategorized
How To Create a Blog
Common sense words about professional blogging
So, you read our blog “Top Five Truths You Need To Know About Making Money Blogging” and you are still determined to give blogging a try.
Even after reading “Fact 2- WHO CARES ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY?” you’re still positive that the world wants – no needs – to hear you, your advice, and your opinion.
You’ve committed to writing at least a few articles, a.k.a. blogs, each and every week forever and ever, Amen. (Refer back to “Fact 1. BLOGGING IS TIME CONSUMING WORK”.)
Thanks to reading “Top Five Truths You Need To Know About Making Money Blogging” you have also accepted the fact you are more likely to win the lottery than make really big money at this.
Ok. You are dedicated. There is no deterring you. You have the blogging bug and the only cure is to start – but – start where?
As a writer you can write away but until it leaves your hard drive no one can see it but you. Blogs are read online and you need a host out in cyber world. There are many options for publishing your web log but only a few are extremely popular.
OPTION ONE – You can build your own website.
In today’s world, with “Website Building for Dummies” books in every bookstore, it is supposedly easy enough that a child can build a website. If you don’t have the confidence, the interest or a ten year old web designer in your office then there are plenty of professional webmasters who will set you up for a nominal fee.
Owning your own website is usually the best option if you are a company, promoting your business. This allows your website to have a blog section. The blogs can draw people in to read the article and then, with luck and talent, they will click on to see what your company has to offer. A blog option on your corporate website is a one and done seamless user experience.
If you choose using your own site then keep in mind you, or your blogger, webmaster or IT team, is responsible for upgrading the software to the latest versions. The cost of having your own domain name begins at about $7.00 per month plus whatever you spend on start-up, software or outside web maintenance help.
OPTION TWO - Most bloggers don’t go the personal website route.
It may be lack of knowledge, confidence or money but it can also be camaraderie. Even the most reclusive blogger likes company and support, so most choose to use a blogging platform.
There are many free blogging platform sites out there. We could list each one but because of heavy competition from the biggest two some will not exist tomorrow and new ones will pop up. For simplicity for newbies we will focus on the Big Two Blogging Platforms – Blogger and WordPress.
A blog spot called “Pulsed” actually developed a 2011 comparison to the two sites that we have found very informative. Blogger vs. WordPress.com Comparison Chart – 2011 will help you discern which one works for you. We at Bridges To The Words have used both. Our opinion is that Blogger is easier to use but its options are not as advanced as WordPress. Also, if you are trying to get paid per ad click then Blogger’s Ad Sense is the most user friendly option.
IMPORTANT TIP – Remember that the name of your blog is important, and we will cover that in a later blog. More important is the domain ownership of that name. When you start a blog with a free blogging service, you can name it any name available but you don’t get your own domain.
In our next posts we will discuss the two most popular publishing platforms – Blogger and WordPress. Together we will discover which is the right blogging publisher for you.
Filed under Blogging
Why Are Colleges Neglecting Modern Social Media & Journalism Students?
Blogging and college students seem to be a perfect marriage. When I started my return to college after a huge lapse, I assumed that the world of academia not only was farther ahead on the world of modern journalism than I had learned on my own, but on social media and its power.
I was wrong.
It took me one look at a college catalogue to know one thing – I had homeschooled myself passed what any local college was yet offering. I was a lonely poster-child for a Citizen Journalist.
I am a lonely Citizen Journalist & Social Media user, lost in the halls of high learning...Hello out there academia?
There are some things in life I need to know is more knowledgeable about things than me. These are my doctor, my lawyer, my pastor and my school. I don’t think that is too much to ask, do you?
After a year of making calls to the school’s faculty and diligently searching every semester for anything useful to me regarding online journalism I found two classes. Modern Journalism and Social Media. I signed up, went to my first classes, and promptly proceeded to drive the two instructors crazy because I wanted more, faster, and yesterday.
During one two-part session on blogging in my Social Media class we were asked to write a blog and publish it on the class blog on WordPress. I decided to write mine on my favorite topic…BLOGGING! I wanted to share some of my experience being a paid blogger over the last four years with my class and my instructor. I hoped that it may encourage some, discourage others, and enlighten my school that there are Citizen Journalists & Authors out there in their community.
As efficient as it would be to copy the whole article here I am choosing to get you to link there, help out the class hits and even remark on mine and others. Here is a sample and the link:
Top Five Truths You Need To Know About Making Money Blogging
As a paid blogger everyone with a computer asks me if they too can really make money blogging. What writer wouldn’t want to sit in their jammies, write what they want whenever they want, have a devout audience and get paid for it? So, the question remains -Can anyone with a keyboard actually make a living as a blogger?
The answer is a simple yes and no.
Filed under Blogging, Writing as a discipline
Blogging As a Discipline ~ Putting One Word in Front of the Other
When someone hears I write for online sources they inevitably ask if I have my own blog they can visit.
My answer is…um…well…yes…no.
I am like the mechanic whose own car is neglected. By the time I am done working on other people’s writing projects I don’t have the time, the drive, or the material needed for my own. While I do write for many blogs, websites, reviews, etc. I haven’t until now had the time, the focus, the lack of need for immediate money, for my own blog.
To be clear, I have started and ran several blogs for personal agendas such as politicians or legal authorities who needed exposed. These sites I did not necessarily attach my name to, although those figures certainly knew it was me. Realizing that the best blogs are not random but have a purpose, I have started sites about educating people on cell phones or dealing with life issues, then I write the articles for them – and I promptly sell them to someone else!
While I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions just as I don’t believe in dieting, I do believe in lifestyle and habit changing being imperative to grow as a person. As much as discipline truly sucks for the creative, it is almost more necessary for them than other personality types. So, I am going to work on the discipline it takes to create my own blog and document this process along the way.
- Put one word in front of the other and soon you have a blog!
I am also committing to rewriting old articles, unused articles and just doing an overhaul of everything I have been doing as an online writing source. I am also going to document that process along the way.
On this journey into blogging as a discipline I will also commit to sit at the feet of the best writers in the world’s history from print literature to cyberspace. I passionately believe in the power of the word and the internet, and the two in combination. I am going to understand how to write well for humans as well as search engines, while developing the best balance of the two. From grammar to Search Engine Optimization, I will be better because I have the desire to be.
The longest journey in to writing anything begins with the first keystroke so, here we go…putting one word in front of the other until we have a blog.
Filed under Blogging, Writing as a discipline
