Entering Blogland
I have been hesitant to start a blog until now, for several reasons:
- I already send out articles every month in my ezine, The Organized Assistant Resource
- My articles are also posted online at OrganizedArticles.com and other article directories
- I didn’t think I had time to update a blog
One of the speakers I had the pleasure of hearing at Professional Organizers in Canada’s Annual Conference this fall was Leesa Barnes, who encouraged all of us to set up a blog. I still wasn’t convinced that I had anything to say, over and above what’s in my ezine, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I am constantly coming across exciting new resources or having insight that has nothing to do with Maximizing Your Time and Space, so why not put them somewhere where other people can also benefit from them?
I’ve seen all kinds of blogs, many that are excellent, and others that are so-so, but this morning I saw what has to be the worst example imaginable. I received a Google alert notifying me that my name had been quoted in a blog, so I very excitedly went to read it, only to discover that every single posting in this particular blog consisted of random words and phrases strung together. I don’t understand the point of that at all. I’m sure it generates search engine traffic on whatever keywords they’ve used - but for what purpose? There are no products for sale, and no links to any other websites. I’m not giving the URL here, because I don’t want to give them whatever exposure they are looking for. They do allow comments to be posted, which requires providing an email address, so maybe they are using it to collect email addresses. I left a comment stating that my name was used without permission, but did not provide a valid email address, just in case that was their intention. Not that I don’t already get my fair share of spam, but that’s a topic for another day!
Janet, you’ve discovered both the joys and perils of blogging. The joy is that you have a platform where you post your thoughts as you feel like. The perils is that there are many people out there who launch blogs, throw up ads and use people’s content as a way to increase page views.
The good news is that these sploggers (blog spam) don’t claim your content as their own. And as I understand it, Google is aware of this growing problem and are cracking down on it by not rewarding sploggers with high rankings in their search engine.
A problem we’re all dealing with, but it shouldn’t stop you from blogging. It will never stop me.
Good to see you in blogosphere.
Comment by Leesa Barnes — December 13, 2006 @ 9:43 pm
Good to see your blog. Always a good way to raise awareness for different industries. You’ll find quite a community out there of bloggers. Congratulations!
Comment by Kathie Thomas — December 27, 2006 @ 1:01 am