Lightenings Blogworld

The Lazy Bloggers Post Generator

lightening — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:00:27 +0000

To celebrate the 6-month anniversary of Aussie Bloggers Forum and Blog, the Aussie Bloggers team have put together a “Lazy Bloggers Post Generator“.

You can generate numerous different “excuse” posts from it.

Here is an example I put together just for your reading pleasure:

Blimey! I just got a bajillion whiny emails saying I have not updated this since I had to start working to pay the ridiculous food and petrol prices to feed my kids… You would not believe my anguish at my misdoings I prostrate myself in sorrow and beg thy forgiveness..

I am totally exhausted with discovering time doesn’t stand still rock crushing just generally being a hindrance to the taxman, my day is full to overflowing from the second I am woken by murderous Teletubbies to I see my darling’s 10000 text messages. I am convinced that I absolutely deserve this after all my hard work. life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.

I swear on the bones of my ancestors if one more person emails me to ask why I haven’t posted today I will start posting pictures of toe fungus, or fecal murals. You wanna test me? The Piccaninnies say I have to!.

And another to show you how different the results can be:

Holy Snapping Duck Do! I just got slapped with a wet salmon - really - I have not updated this since Hammertime was in the charts… You would not believe that my hands were chopped off and I was waiting for bionic ones Please don’t abandon me!.

I am absolutely consumed with an awfully big adventure learning to fart the theme to neighbours just generally being an embarrassment to my kids, my day is passing in a blur from midday to early afternoon. I am quite the socialite. as well you should know.

I totally promise I will blog about it when I find my way home. Until I need your shoulder to cry on. Assuming I don’t get distracted by counting my chest hairs.

So, head on over, have some fun and post your results on your blog so everyone can have a giggle. And don’t forget to mention how awesome Aussie Bloggers is!

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The Lazy Bloggers Post Generator

Using a Feedreader Can Save You Time

lightening — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:12:52 +0000

Image via WikipediaWhat is a Feedreader?

A feedreader allows you to combine all of the blogs you read into the one webpage. Every time a blog updates with a post, your feedreader collects that posts and shows you those posts all on one page.

How Does a Feedreader Save You Time?

Instead of having to visit each blog whenever you want to find out if a blog has updated (and it may take several visits before you find a new post on some blogs), your feedreader will tell you when a new post has been put up.

Of course, feedreaders aren’t perfect and there are times when a longer than usual delay occurs or the feedreader has trouble picking up some feeds. But for the most part, they are an extremely useful tool when it comes to reading and keeping up with your favourite blogs.

Where Can I Find a Feedreader?

The most commonly mentioned Feedreaders are Google Reader and Bloglines.

I started with Google Reader, had some trouble with it so switched to Bloglines and I’m now in the process of switching back to Google Reader (not that I’m no longer on dial up - for some reason I had trouble with Google Reader freezing on me all the time).

Once you have your feedreader account set up, adding blogs can be as simple as clicking on the RSS icon link on the blog you wish to add. A page should then come up giving you the option of selecting the feedreader you wish to add the blog to. You can also add a blog to your reader by copying and pasting the blog URL into the appropriate section of your reader.

Full Feed vs Partial Feed

From time to time you may come across debates as to whether or not bloggers should allow a full feed vs a partial feed. There are pro’s and con’s on both sides. Personally, as someone who reads a LOT of blogs, I sit in the “full feed” camp.

There are a number of reasons WHY people choose to only offer a partial feed but my opinion is that if you want your readers to feel you value them, offering a full feed is a good way to go.

How Many Blogs Are In Your Feedreader?

For those of you already reading blogs via a feedreader, I’m curious as to how many blogs you have in your reader. Please take a minute to indicate in the poll below:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

If you’ve never used a feedreader before and would like more information about setting one up, please ask. It can be daunting when you first get started but once you’ve used one for a while, you’ll wonder how you ever survived without it!

Using a Feedreader Can Save You Time

30 Day Challenge - Will I Be Able To Keep Up?

lightening — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:07:36 +0000

Image by вαяσσк яε∂вυιι™ ~ υк šσση via FlickrMy children headed back to school this week and I was all set to catch up on the sections of the 30-Day Challenge Preseason that I got behind on over the past couple of weeks.

Two days into the week and I haven’t even started on my planned “catch up”.

All of which is making me rather nervous about how well I’ll manage to keep up once the actual challenge begins.

The good news is that the 30 Day Challenge material stays available a long time after the actual challenge itself has finished.

So if I fall behind during the Challenge then at least I know I can continue to make my way through the material at my own pace after August has wrapped up.

If you’ve not yet signed up for the 30-Day Challenge, it’s not too late. Just having access to the videos and forum is well worth it, even if you don’t feel you can actually participate in the actual “challenge”.

I am planning to blog more of the preseason stuff for those of you who are having trouble getting your connections to work with the videos.

30 Day Challenge - Will I Be Able To Keep Up?

An eclectic mix in Lightening’s Blogworld this week

lightening — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:00:42 +0000

Image via WikipediaHere’s an eclectic mix of posts that either caught my eye or inspired me this week:

If you’re like many bloggers and find yourself confused about the difference between Categories and Tags then you might find this article by Performancing useful: Categories vs Tags and how to properly utilize them

Make Money Online discusses duplicate content and google.

Chris Garrett had an interesting article on why you should not blog.

I thought this image of a snake massage was scary until I saw this zipper tongue. YUK!!!!

The worlds oldest blogger passed away. Rest in Peace Olive Riley - you have inspired many people and will be remembered for a long time to come.

Flickr Friday - I just wanted to mention this meme as I think it’s fabulous and have been intending to join in (once I can get my head around HOW). Each week has a theme and I love seeing how different bloggers choose different images. This week’s is Winter.

Please don’t think this is an exhaustive list of posts I enjoyed or found worthy of sharing. It’s just a few of the hundreds I’ve waded my way through.

An eclectic mix in Lightening’s Blogworld this week

Top 100 Web Celebrities

lightening — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:30:56 +0000

Image via WikipediaTech Cult have just released what they consider to be the Top 100 Web Celebrities. I found it an interesting list to read through and they’ve provided some comprehensive (yet brief) information on each of them.

Here is their explanation of the process they went through:

We gathered around 200 potential names and queried them on Google to see how many results they would generate. Some minor adjustments were made, and the 100 names with the highest number of results were profiled (as you can see it is not our fault that Chris Crocker ended at the 6th position!)

Celebrities that became famous prior to the explosion of the Web were not included. Hence you will not find the likes of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, despite our acknowledge that they are also influencing the Internet.

By name, I know just 7 of the 100:
81. Steve Pavlina

75. Darren Rowse

49. John Chow

24. Matt Cutts

17. Guy Kawasaki

5. Seth Godin

2. Perez Hilton

There were a few other’s that I either knew by face (such as Chris Crocker pictured above) or knew the name (such as Matt Mullenweg) but couldn’t tell you why.

So does this mean I fail in the “knowing who’s who of the web”?

How many names do you know on the list?

Top 100 Web Celebrities

Win a Macbook Air

lightening — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:56:54 +0000

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeShoemoney is running a “comment contest” at the moment. I LOVE blog contests and giveaways but get weary of those which require people to jump through hoops and subcribe, link, comment and half a dozen other things just to get an entry.

Well, this one is nice and SIMPLE. And I really LIKE nice and simple. All you have to do is leave a comment.

So I’m not writing this post in order to gain entry. I’m writing it because I LIKE Shoemoney and I LIKE his contest and I LIKE to let you know about stuff like this.

Plus I LIKE the fact that Shoemoney is prepared to ship outside of the US (unlike many blog giveaways I come across *sigh*).

The contest started with a t-shirt giveaway. I’d LOVE a Shoemoney t-shirt. That would be more than enough for me.

BUT, he has just announced a new prize in the comment contest - A Macbook Air.

If that doesn’t get you drooling, I don’t know what will.

Head on over and check it out.

Win a Macbook Air

Congratulations Aussie Bloggers

lightening — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:01:39 +0000

The Aussie Bloggers Forum and Blog is celebrating it’s 6-month anniversary this month. Sometime last year, three prominent figures in the Australian Blogosphere joined heads and resources and gave birth to both the Aussie Bloggers Forum and the Aussie Bloggers Blog.

Some 6 months later the Aussie Bloggers Forum has over 650 members, more than 32,000 posts on over 2400 different topics. Quite an achievement in such a short time. We’re quite a chatty bunch over there and you’ll always find someone willing to answer your questions, cheer you up or keep you company.

Some of the most popular threads include what’s for dinner (with some fabulous inspiration if you’re short on ideas), favourite search terms (with some hilarious offerings) and how’s your day.

It’s a great way to connect with Aussie’s who use Entrecard, Digg, Twitter and various other social network and blog promotion methods.

You can also find discussions on various tv shows including Big Brother and Dexter.

As far as blogging goes, you can learn more about Injader, ask questions related to Wordpress, Blogger and Other Blog Platforms. There are many discussions on ways to monetise your blog such as sharing the top 3 money earners on your blog, the 30 Day Challenge and charging for advertising. Of course there are many, many more blog discussion topics. Too many to mention here.

The blog is written by a diverse range of bloggers who are also responsible for overseeing the general running of the forums. Such diversity means that the blog publishes quite an interesting range of blog topics from TV shows to Australian Food and Places to great Blogging Advice.

As you can see, Aussie Bloggers offers something for everyone. It’s a fun, friendly and helpful place to be.

Congratulations to all who are involved in Aussie Bloggers in some way and here’s to a fabulous next 6 months.

Congratulations Aussie Bloggers

Using Youtube Clips Offline

lightening — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:30:30 +0000

Image via WikipediaHave you ever tried to save a you tube clip to show someone, only to discover that you HAVE to be online in order for it to work?

Here is a nifty little download tool which makes it nice and simple:

You Tube Video Download Tool

It’s as simple as copying and pasting the You Tube URL and hitting the “get video” button.

This will save the clip as a vlf file. To play this type of file on your computer, simply download this VLC Media Player. It’s not a large file so shouldn’t take too much to download.

Just be aware that clips on youtube are not automatically copywrite free so it’s important to be considerate in how you make use of them.

Using Youtube Clips Offline

Top 100 Australian Women Blogs Has Moved In Lightening’s Blogworld This Week

lightening — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:30:17 +0000

Leigh from All For Women announced this week that the Top 100 Australian Women Blogs has moved location and is now being hosted at Crazy Meezer. If you link to the list, you’ll need to alter those links to reflect the change (something I myself need to get around to as well).

New and Returning Blogs To the Top 100 Australian Women Bloggers This Month:

Congratulations also go out to Karen Cheng who is currently occupying top spot on the list.

My Blogging News:

My Blogs are listed at number 7 (Lightening Online) and number 41 (Lightening’s Blogworld) on the Top 100 Australian Women Blogs this month.

I wrote a post for Aussie Bloggers this week on the great Australian tradition - The Road Trip.

Ben Barden wrote a great review for Lightening’s Blogworld on his blog Blogging and Website Tips without the jargon. Thanks Ben.

I celebrated my birthday with this post: A Time For Reflection

Top 100 Australian Women Blogs Has Moved In Lightening’s Blogworld This Week

Entrecard Blog Review: I Need Alex

lightening — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:15:36 +0000

I Need Alex is a blog that according to it’s description is about:

Money Making Ideas, Internet News, Reviews of Cool Products + Many Clueless Ramblings

I found the recent post “Some Interesting Money Quotes” to be an interesting read. Everyone tends to have an opinion when it comes to money and these quotes reflect the diversity of opinions when it comes to money.

If you’re unlike me and have time to burn, you might find something interesting in the post “10 Totally Time Wasting Websites You Must Visit”.

I thought it was interesting that the “advertise” link went to an ebay page. I’ve not seen that done before and wonder how effective it has been. I noticed the auction is not current right now.

Things I Liked About This Blog

I really liked the header. The graphics are clear and easy to read and provide interest without being overdone. I really like the cartoon. It gives me the impression of someone who is trustworthy and building trust with readers is an important part of sucessful blogging.
Both RSS and Email Subscription options are clear and easy to find.

Things I Would Do Differently If This Were My Blog

I couldn’t find any page giving me more information of what I could expect to find on this blog or anything about the blog author. This is a little more challenging with a blogger set-up than wordpress (which allows pages) but can be done.
I’m personally not a big fan of dark background on blogs. While I do think it looks effective, it can make prolonged reading rather difficult.
I couldn’t find any way to search the blog via category or tag which made navigation a little bit difficult.

Entrecard Blog Review: I Need Alex