Diary of a Network Geek

No, I’m not talking about leveling up in some game.

I found out last night that my blog has reached a new level.  It’s self-supporting.
Do you see the ads over to the side there, on the right?  The rows of words and phrases that are linked?  Those are ads.  Last night I was checking something at the site where those are bought and sold and where I get the code to allow them to be sold on my website.  When I signed in, I saw that this month, I had finally, after nine years having a blog and four or five of having advertising, finally, I had made more in a month than my hosting fees.  Not much more, but enough that this little hobby, this obsession of words and pictures, this dance of code and graphics, pays for itself, and a little extra.  Enough to buy a latte and a piece of pastry.  Enough.

That may not seem like much for the people who are trying to make a living at this, but I’m not.  In fact, I’ve been hoping to find just what’s happened; that magic balance between effort and reward.  I’ve hit that perfect equilibrium where I post enough, rank enough, and pull enough traffic to pay for myself.
It’s not a big goal, perhaps, but it makes me happy.

But, just two links.

Okay, so I’m kind of cheating with this, but, still, if it gets some of this in front of people who can use it, I think it’s worth gaming the system a bit.
First, I have a link to the Search Engine Journal post on Link Baiting, or How to Build Links in ANY Niche. For those of you in a hurry, I’ll summarize: write really, really killer content, if possible with tie-ins to other major blogs. (But, to read the article anyway.)
Secondly, the other 29 tips and whatnot are all at ProBlogger. Sure, the post title is 29 Tips, Tutorials and Resources for New Bloggers, but there’s plenty there for old-timers, too. (I keep meaning to read the ProBlogger book, too, but, it’s hiding under an exercise book, so I haven’t gotten to it yet.)

Okay, and yes, I’m hoping that the search engines will find this post and jostle me up a bit in the rankings. I am Googlerank whore. There, I said it. Happy now?

I cannot make this stuff up.

So, the military is concerned about their image. I get that. Blogs and other on-line media are incredibly popular and a source of information and opinion that may influence readers. I get that, too. But, the Air Force is so worried about this they apparently have a flowchart to help counter-bloggers do their work. At least, if Wired is to be believed, they do.

Actually? It’s not a bad suggestion for how anyone might respond to a blog post or a comment on a blog post that they don’t like or with which they disagree. Seriously. Check it out.

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us."
   --Helen Keller

TypePadfromIntel

Originally uploaded by Network Geek

The folks at WordPress better wake up and take notice.

So, you probably know by now that I run this blog via WordPress. And, in the past, I’ve recommended the free blogging service provided by WordPress.com. Well, while installing software on a new PC I’d put together at work today, I saw the screen to pictured here. If you click the link and take a closer look at the screen, you’ll see an option to install a three month TypePad account. TypePad, like WordPress.com, has both free and paid accounts. So, this would give someone three months of the paid TypePad service.

I don’t know what this cost the folks at SixApart, who own TypePad, but this is some damn clever marketing, in my opinion. If this is included with every Intel motherboard sold… Well, let’s just say that I think it would get a lot of people trying this service and starting a paid account. It’s like Microsoft giving schools huge rebates and offering student editions for cheap to make sure that their software is what the fresh crop of workers are trained to use. It’s good marketing. At least, it sure seems to have worked well for Microsoft.

WordPress, are you watching this?

I think I smell a little hyperbole.

Apparently, the New York Times ran a story about how bloggers are such freakish, obsessive people who simply can’t stand to be away from their computer, even for sleep, that all the stress from blogging can actually cause our demise. Frankly, even if I were doing this professionally, I think that’s taking it too far. An article on Slate references statistics that clearly show there are far more stressful, harmful jobs than blogging. Or, really, anything white collar. And, Larry Dignan, a professional blogger for ZDNet, who was interviewed for the NYT story, clearly has other opinions about the “hazards” of blogging. (His interview, which disagreed with the sensationalist story, was not used.)

But, blogging is still hot. It’s still cool. Only, now, the press has to make some fear-based story around it to sell papers. So, now, apparently, blogging can kill you.
Film at eleven.