blogging series by Seth Apter

My buddy, Seth of The Altered Page, is doing a series on blogging tips over at Create Mix Media. Looks to be a good one, so pop on over there.

here some of the great questions he posed to himself:

"Since discovering art blogs, I have asked myself many different questions at different points along my journey. What makes a blog ‘successful’ and how is success even defined? Why do some blogs seem to get all the attention, visitors, and comments while others don’t? Should an artist’s blog be devoted to art, to personal issues, or perhaps a combination of both? Can a post have too many words or not enough pictures (like this one)? How can I get a bigger audience and should I even care about that? Should I pay attention to the number of hits I get and all those other stats? Will my readers come back if I take a break or change the style of my art? Is anybody even reading what I write?"

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The dynamics of a popular blog are complex because it all depends on what others are looking for. Some people absolutely HATE music on other blogs and I've even have people say they absolutely will not read a blog with music on it. I don't agree with that (that's what my mute button is for!), but that's their opinion and they are part of that invisible viewership out there that make up the world of blog stats. Personally, I like blogs with lots of visual imagery in their posts. I like a combination of personal and art infused into blogs (like mine). I like blogs where the writer has a quirky sense of humor. I don't like blogs that are too political, negative or mean spirited. I know some people worry about comments and why they don't get many. I think people are just too busy to leave comments. They want to read and move on, because their time is limited. If a blog post really hits home with them, they will leave a comment. I don't get caught up in stats as i think that takes the fun out of what my blog is for me, fun and a cyber diary of sorts. I do think the more you blog, the better. (meaning don't wait too long between postings, as you will lose your readers) But again, remember, these are just how i like things. others have their likes and dislikes and there we come to the beginning again of what appeals to others!

I will be participating in Seth's series because I am always willing and eager to learn something new.

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P.S.

I am excited to announce that I will be teaching a class at Tinsel Trading in NYC on June 25th. Details coming soon!

new to blogging?

I appreciate those of you who take the time to comment or email me with your questions. I'm glad you feel that you can confide in me or that I have somehow inspired you. Frequently I am asked a lot of blogging questions, so today I thought i'd share some resources I found on the net. These resources are full of information, more sources, tips, secrets and tutorials.

You can either put together your blog by yourself or you can pay someone to help you add columns, with design and more. Originally when I started my blog, my blog was on yahoo. Then as my blogging skills grew and my blog got bigger, I realized that I needed to move it. The biggest choices are between Blogger and Typepad; although I know there are many other blogging platforms. I decided to go with Blogger as I felt it was a littler more user friendly.

So once you chose your platform, I suggest, as I did, to go to yahoo or google and start putting in all sort of search words and see what comes up. you can search things like: Blogger + tips and secrets, or Blogger Tips or Blogger Secrets. Even things like: free Blogger templates. You will be amazed at what you can find. Then start yourself a little notebook and jot down things that you like or copy/paste things into a file to reference later.

Another thing to consider is what you want to call your blog. It can be your business name, your name or something that catches your fancy. In hindsight now, I wish I had called my blog with my name. But for now it will remain as is as I feel consistency is extremely important and Lemoncholy's is definitely associated immediately with my name.

To me one of the biggest things that I enjoy in a blog are the photos and in big size. If photos are tiny and the font is tiny, I feel like I can't really appreciate what it is I am looking at (remember at our age, for the eyes, bigger is indeed better!) I think most people are more visual and grabbing them with a pretty or interesting photo is key. If you aren't sure how to bring a photo into your blog, again, hit the net and search: uploading a photo into Blogger. trust me the information is out there. Another key resource is Youtube. whenever I need to figure out how to do something, I search youtube for a video and usually there is a few out there. So take advantage of these resources!

** another thing I recommend is that if you see a blog that you like, take a second to figure out what is it that you find appealing. Is it her graphics, her layout, her template, photography, 3 columns, 2 columns, etc. often times if it was designed by someone, the designer will have a button somewhere on the blog. this might help you formulate a starting place for your ideas.

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here are some cool resources i found for you:

Blogger Tips -

this one even has a great section on the right side for FAQ's.

Building Beautiful Blogs-

Karen Valentine, who hosts, "Where Bloggers Create" also does blog design. I've had her do a couple of things for me and she does great work. She's also created a wonderful book that shares all her tips, tricks and information to help the new blogger navigate through Blogger. I'm looking forward to receiving my copy because I bet you anything there are things in there that i didn't even know!

Cozy Little House-
blog tips on Mondays and tutorials

Jodie R. LeJeune
starting a blog 101

photo blogging tips

Gail Schmidt -
custom graphics. Gail is a friend of mine and is amazing to work with (and very patient!). She helps you get your idea into words!

Itkupilli-
fun and funky free backgrounds- great eye candy!

so that's a start! also, if anyone has any super great blogging tips, why don't you share them with a comment here for us to read!

what in the heck?

thursday i got an email from google saying my blog had been locked and that i had been identified as a potential spam blog. so i had to fill out some word verification form and then submit it back to google and then they would check into my blog to verfiy i was not a spammer. weird, huh? so i've been chomping at the bit waiting and wondering how long it would take them to verify my blog. (3 days). it was really weird not be able to get into my blog and i really didn't like it.

kind words...

the universe must be thinking of me since (and i haven't admitted this), but i 've been feeling a little down. i'm having sad pangs of my younger son, Dillon, getting older. he's 15 and seems so grown up. he's at that age where he has a girlfriend, wants to be with his friends ALL the time and seems to relate more to his dad (being a male and all)- so it is kind of tough on me. i've been having to learn to let go, which has been hard. given the differences between tuck and dillon, all that i missed with tucker, i threw into dillon. the whole thought of my children getting older makes me sad. i miss those little guys. so to have to sit by the sidelines is a new experience. i keep thinking how fast it is all going. he'll be a sophmore next year and then pretty soon it is off to college! but any way, i digress.

i was referring to the universe because today i recevied this nice award from terri ventura. yesterday i received an RAK from fellow charmsters, Laurel. it was a little birdie and she thought of me. i will add it with my other charms that i get from the bird charm swap i am hosting with the charmsters. i am waiting for a few more charms and then i can start sorting them. and then on saturday i received some earrings from Amy Hanna. I met Amy at that Artnest retreat where she was teaching us how to take our treasures and turn them into jewelery. she definitely got me started in my new jewelry direction (although my first piece was quite challenging and took FOREVER to create). anyway, when Amy was getting ready to teach, she was overwhelmed by all the eager students who wanted to buy her jewelry. things got really hectic and i could tell that she needed a little help. so i jumped in and helped out where i could. i've been in those situations before and i just thought, she needs some help! she emailed me after i let her know they had arrived and said the sweetest thing to me:

Keesha, I am glad you recieved your earrings. I just wanted to thank you again for being such a sweet heart and helping me. You have a beautiful spirit and I just wanted you to know that I noticed it. I hope our paths cross again in the future. May god bless you and your family!! love,amy

wasnt' that nice? i really took it to heart that she would tell me something so kind. it is nice to be appreciated like that. here is a picture of my lovely earrings. i will be passing on the award to Kim, Cindy, Zhulia, Jan, Joanne, Michelle and Sandra