Thursday, January 24, 2008

If You Have A Blog But Not A Lot Of Time, Here Are 5 Tips To Help

1. Start a Community Blog. A community blog is just that, a community of like-minded people who contribute to a blog. One of the obvious advantages to this type of blog is that you don't need to spend a lot of time posting yourself to be part of an active blog. If you have a community of three or more people and you each post at least twice a week then you will have a pretty active blog. Be sure to use an RSS feed and have all contributors post the feed on their sites to get the benefit of each sites visitors.

2. Hire a team of bloggers. Newspapers have contributors, blogs can too. If you've ever used writers to do articles and content for you , they can do the same type of thing with a blog. Many of the most successful blogs are already doing this. The combination of group promotion effort, regular updates and pinging can help bring in traffic quickly. One thing to note here is blogs are a somewhat social tool. Some very popular niche blogs are not all that visible in the search engines, yet they get a lot of traffic because people recommend them and they become a sort of buzz hub. Search engines do not always pick up on this but they do eventually. This is why group blogging can be very powerful because you're leveraging the power of not one (your) influence group but several people's influence group. If you do pay your bloggers, you can always offset this cost by displaying Adsense ads. Many popular blogs earn a good amount in Adsense, that they make a nice profit even after paying their bloggers team. After a while it becomes a passive income stream.

3. Recycle Content. By taking previously published articles, interviews or even audio and breaking it up into blog sized pieces you can recycle old content and make it new again! You can break up long pieces into a bunch of segments and have a series going for, say, a week or so. Then you won't have to worry about coming up with new content for a week!

4. Include audio. For some of us, it's much easier to speak than to write. So, mix up your blog. Carry a small portable MP3 recorder or blog by phone. What a convenient way for moms who are running around all day , busing the kids where they need to go , doing errands , and whatever else needs to be done. Maybe you're stuck in traffic, or waiting for the kids to get out piano class or school. An idea or thought strikes and you think "Oh I need to share that on my blog" so, pick up your phone (assuming you have a cell phone - and many of us do), dial a number, say what's on your mind, save it and you're done. Your blog is published. If you're using Blogger, you can do this for free through AudioBlog. It involves calling a long distance number, but most cell phone plans don't charge extra for long distance anyway so you're not incurring any extra cost.

If you're using another blog publishing tool like WordPress, Movable Type or TypePad, then you'll need a service like AudioBlogger.com. This one is a paid service but it's only $4.95 a month and it gives you more options like a nice flash player, statistics and even video that make it worth while.

5. Automating Your Blog. One of the things I love about using Wordpress as a publishing tool is that it offers a forward blog entry option that saves me tons of time. By using this tool you can blog ahead of time and have your entries posted on the day and time you choose. So let's say you have a week's worth of posts ready to go. You don't have to come back each day and post, instead you write everything up in one day and schedule a new post out 24 hrs after the next. This will save you time!

Let's face it. There will be times we have a ton to say and times we have little or nothing to share. Instead of having multiple entries one day and nothing over the next few days, by using forward entry you can blog everyday of the week. Or rather you blog once and the blog publishing tool does the job automatically the rest of the week. You can even forward blog for weeks and months ahead of time.

Note: Blogger users unfortunately cannot do this because Blogger publishes all entries regardless what you date it immediately.

Affectionately nicknamed Tech Diva by her peers, Lynette Chandler regularly dispenses blogging and RSS help to countless business owners. Visit http://www.BloggingStarterPack.com to learn more about blogging and get a copy of her video free.How Do Tweeters Work

Causes of Bed Wetting: Eat, Drink, and Wet the Bed

Well, we're on a roll with causes of bed wetting theories. Here's one that seems to make sense. I'm still pretty much sold on the idea that it's a hereditary issue - but it seems like if there are other causes of bed wetting, they may be more controllable. If it's just heredity, you kind of have to wait it out until your child reaches the pre-set magical age of dryness. By nature not especially patient, the idea of waiting it out doesn't appeal to me.

So, here's what I've learned about the food and drink leading to bedwetting theory.

Chocolate

Oh no! Say it isn't so! Well, actually it's not necessarily the chocolate; it's the caffeine in chocolate that may cause bed wetting. What does caffeine do? It stimulates the body, including the bladder. So that evening cup of cocoa or slice of chocolate cake may be a problem. (Gosh, now I'm craving chocolate!)

Soda

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles. Carbonation is rumored to do strange things to immature bladders. Actually, for any adults who drink soda, you know first-hand that a can of Coke is a ticket to the restroom. It's an effect that's compounded by caffeine - and the sugar's probably not helping matters either.

Oranges and Grapefruits

OK, if you've actually got a child who will eat grapefruit, I'd like to hear about it! But oranges are another story. I get a strange reaction when I eat oranges (and raw cranberries for some reason) - my face gets hot and I feel kind of funky. So, I'm assuming it's possible to be allergic to citrus. The citric acid is the most likely culprit. Try cutting back on the orange juice and citrus in your child's diet to see what happens.

Spicy Stuff

There are some spices out there that could probably be rated pharmaceutical grade. Think of the effect Chinese mustard has on your nose! No doubt some of these spices have an equivalent effect on the bladder. Salsa, Asian food, and other hot, hot, hot foods may be contributing to the bedwetting problem.

Food Allergies

I've heard of people whose children are allergic to everything from eggs to wheat, and have to say that dealing with bedwetting is nothing compared to the trouble they have to go through just to feed their children. Couple a serious food allergy with bedwetting, and it's enough to make you want to retreat to the bath tub for the next ten years! Some allergies cause bladder spasms - which of course, means a bedwetting accident. It's not just food, either. Some people are really sensitive to preservatives, dyes, and other additives. It doesn't seem that the only effect of a food allergy would be bedwetting, though. So don't throw out all your groceries just yet. But if your child has multiple challenges, it's something to consider. You may have to shop around for an allergist - so be prepared.

So what do you do if you discover your child's bedwetting problem is caused by a food sensitivity? It's not like being allergic to a cat - get some shots or send Fluffy to live with Grandma. You'll have to enroll your child's compliance on this (so what else is new?). Get your child to see the value, the what's-in-it-for-me of staying away from what may be a favorite food. Dry nights are pretty valuable - and your child may come to see the tradeoff as worthwhile. The sensitivity may be temporary, too - and that should help.

After all, just the thought of never being able to eat chocolate is cruel and unusual punishment.

Sue LaPointe is the owner of http://www.bedwettinghelpformoms.com - a site aimed at encouraging, supporting, and educating parents of bedwetters. Request your copy of the free report Got a Bedwetter? Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid. Logitech Game Controller

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