------- Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine ------- Vol 3, Issue 4 One of the great wonders of having a 15-month-old around the house is just watching her play. As with most children, Kaylie has a number of toys scattered about the livingroom. Oh, each night they are gathered to their respective homes, but somehow they seem to spread back out through the course of the day. At any rate, as she has grown, toys, which once held great fascination, slowly are replaced by those which are a bit more advanced. She had one which looked something like a brightly colored miniature sawhorse with flashing lights and music that would play and play and play and play and ... well, you get my drift. That -- once her favorite -- has now been replaced by a purple riding cart which plays insipid fairytale music over and over and over and over and .... Sorry. Where was I? As Kaylie has devloped, the toys she chooses to play with have changed. Similarly, as my life and business have changed, the tools I have found useful out on the net have also evolved. Some have continued to be useful, while others have fallen by the wayside. I'll be talking about one of the bigger changes in this issue. Oh, and it's come to my attention that there are one or two of you out there who only read this newsletter in order to hear about Kaylie. I'm fine with that as she is by far the most interesting thing in my life. For those who count themselves among that host, you can read more about my darling daughter on her website at: http://kaylie.cyberdatasolutionsllc.com/ You may, in particular wish to check out the "Blog" tab where you can see Kaylie's first haircut. ---------------------------------------------------------------- In This Issue... ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: As Easy as Falling Off a Blog 2. Shameless Self-Promotion 3. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: As Easy as Falling Off a Blog ---------------------------------------------------------------- At the very beginning of the Internet, we had email -- a simple mechanism designed to allow people to communicate with each other. Some would argue that things only went downhill after that. Still, through Usenet, gopher, WAIS, and the Web, one of the most interesting technologies has been the idea of a blog. For those who've been living under a rock for the past decade or so, a blog is a means for an author or group of authors to write periodic articles -- anything from a few lines to multiple pages of content -- about anything in particular. The best and most popular even manage to make some sort of living for those who create them. Starting in March of 2006 and running through the middle of last year, I actualy maintained a blog (http://clearing-confusion.blogspot.com/). I don't any longer, though, and here's why. It wasn't doing what I wanted it to do. Or more accurately: I didn't know what I wanted it to do, so couldn't maintain the effort necessary to write on a regular basis. And it is an effort. Here's the thing. The blogs I most enjoy reading are relatively focused. The author has found a topic and pursues his or her writing with a specific purpose in mind. My good friend, Scott Ginsberg writes about approachability and personal branding (http://www.hellomynameisscott.blogspot.com/). My mom, Debby Peters, writes about business and social networking (http://cnpofohio.blogspot.com/). Both do it with the purpose of being recognized as experts That recognition has a purpose in itself -- to drive their businesses. My lovely wife, Lisa, and our dear friend, Larc Bogdan, each maintain a blog devoted to talking about family and the news of the day (http://kayliekimiko.blogspot.com/, http://larcb.livejournal.com/). The purpose for this, of course, is completely different from my mom's or Scott's. In this case, the goal is to keep friends and family up to date about what's going on with quickly growing children and the changing dynamic of those involved. Herein lies the problem that I had with my blog. It wasn't about anything in particular. Some days I wrote about a project I was working on. Other days it was about my personal life. Still others would be about a book I read, or a general concept in Web development, or even a fun toy I had discovered. With that scattered an approach to a topic, you can imagine that I wasn't achieving my goals. In fact, the truth of the matter is that I had never had a goal in the first place. If anyone is considering starting a blog out there, that is the one piece of advice I would give: Decide first why you are doing it and make sure that ultimate goal is a strong one. That's the only thing that will carry you through when no one is reading your pearls of prose. Everything you decide after that, from the look of the page to the contents therein must be in service to that ultimate goal. Ironically, this newsletter has now almost fully supplanted my writing efforts. It achieves my goals of maintaining contact with those I know and like. It puts my name in front of potential clients. It even allows me to share information about the toys I've found out on the Web. Even if I don't play with some of them any longer. So, what toys haven't come out of your toy chest in a while? Drop me a line at gpeters@cyberdatasolutionsllc.com and left me know. Copyright 2009, Greg Peters ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Shameless Self-Promotion ---------------------------------------------------------------- The "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-Zine is a production of Greg Peters, owner, chief cook, and bottlewasher of Cyber Data Solutions. CDS has been helping website designers develop better web presence for their clients for more than a decade. Visit us on the Web at www.cyberdatasolns.com to see how we can help your webmaster. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: You can subscribe to the "Clearing Up The Confusion" E-zine at: http://www.cyberdatasolns.com/ezine Questions: If you have any questions, concerns or comments regarding the Clearing Up the Confusion E-zine, please email Greg Peters at: gpeters@cyberdatasolns.com This content may be forwarded in full, with copyright and contact information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not for-profit format. 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