Blog: For Sale By Owner

Would you sell your blog? I’ve never heard of this practice before, but yesterday I came across a post on a blog that I subscribe to from the new owner introducing himself to the former owner’s readers. I wasn’t an active commentator on his blog, but I was a regular reader and for a few seconds I flirted with the feeling of abandonment.

This got me thinking, of course, would you continue to read (or comment) on a blog you frequented if it changed ownership? I visit my regular blogs because that person has become a ‘friend in my head’, I want to know how they are doing. It’s not always about content.

To me it’s like having a ‘friend’ move to another house, but hanging out with the new owners. I’m not saying we can’t be ‘friends’, but it would be awkward at first.

Now I have seen displays on blogs advertising its worth (find out your blog’s worth here) and I never took it seriously but found it to be more entertaining than anything else. It is worthy of a question though: Would you sell your blog? Why or why not? Would you continue to read or subscribe to a blog if the original owner sold it?

The only reason I would sell my blog is because I’m never going to blog again and I know it, besides who would want to buy it? (Uh, if someone out there wants to buy my blog, please contact me, we need to talk.) Maybe the niche of the blog matters? I recently sold a website, complete with forum members because I will never start another one of that kind again. I’m just not sure of blog selling. Heck, I don’t even want to monetize my blog, but I’ll never say never. Did you hear that Oprah?!

Malicious Comment

What would prompt you to leave a mean comment on someone’s blog? Did they make you mad? Maybe something they wrote upset you and you wanted to set them straight? Okay I get it….I have left some passionate comments on a blog before, but never have I personally attacked the writer or left a nasty comment.

I was reading an interesting article in the WSJ about a mommy blogger, Heather Armstrong, who “sought therapy to cope with vitriolic posts.” She goes on to say: “The hate mail will invariably happen, and when it does your entire world will crumble around your ears,” she says. In one example, she says a person she thought was a friend posted a comment saying she “wanted to punch me in the face because she hated me so much.” She adds she can understand why “famous people turn to drugs or commit suicide.”

Why the hatred? I think it’s because hurting people, hurt people. We get offended quickly and our defense is to make people feel our pain by trying to hurt them back. So cursing at them or calling them names somehow makes us feel better so we leave our nasty comment, after all we are right and they are wrong. Hurting people hurt people.

I checked out Heather’s blog and unfortunately her posts are closed to comments. I like interacting with bloggers and not being able to just makes the blog seem like a book. I have plenty of books to read…I do think it takes away from the total experience of blogging, but sometimes because of other people, it’s necessary. If you get a chance, read the article….I thought it was interesting.

Do you leave nasty comments on people’s blogs? Has anyone left a mean comment on your blog? What did you do? I haven’t had too many problems, maybe some misunderstandings, but I’ll blog about that later.

6 Stress Busters for Bloggers

Are you overwhelmed with all that comes [could come] with being a blogger? Are you spending countless hours “dropping cards” trying to get your blog noticed? I admit being new to regular blogging, it’s very easy to get caught up in all that blogsphere has to offer. There are so many tantalizing websites and tools out there, sometimes I feel like I’m in a bloggers playground trying to touch everything. I love blogging, but just because we write it doesn’t mean they [readers/commentators] will come; you can check your first few posts as evidence. We all recognize that if we want readers, we have to advertise or do something to get our blog noticed, which can be time consuming as well as stressful.

So what do we do? Day after day, we join, we advertise and we might add a chicklet to our blog and wait. This can be stressful when we don’t see the results we hoped for and after a few months of this process many bloggers abandon their blog.

Yesterday I was looking at a magazine cover and I noticed an article that had 50 fast fixes for stress. I thought it would be good to look at this article from a bloggers prospective, so here’s my top 6 stress busters for bloggers.

1. Hakuna Matata. Don’t worry about your stats, blog visitors, subscribers, page rankings and votes everyday. There is absolutely nothing we can do that will change what we see, so why stress over number fluctuation. I’m not saying don’t check, but if it bothers you, limit your page views to once a week.
2. We’re not Omnipresent. We can’t join everything and can’t be everywhere. Even as I Digg through blogsphere, I Stumble Upon a lot of sites that want us to Cre8Buzz about our SpicyPage and put our Post On Fire. While some of these sites are Del.ici.ous, it can be overwhelming trying to keep up. I’m currently limiting MySpace in blogsphere, my plan is to pick a few sites [3 to 5] and be diligent!
3. A post a day. Unless you blog for a living, don’t feel obligated to post to your blog everyday. This immediately raises your stress level when you have nothing substantial to blog about, you start to worry that you missed a deadline that’s not even there. While you may have a lot of subscribers and people who enjoy reading your blog, no one expects you to post everyday, so don’t expect it of yourself, unless you can.
4. Peeping Blog. There is no need to constantly check on your blog, it does not need a blogsitter. I’m not saying never check your blog, it’s necessary to check for problems, but several times an hour is a bit much. If you have a lot of people that comment on your blog, then yes, you may need to check it more often to keep up with replying. If not, set a specific time you devote to blog maintenance.
5. Ignore your blog. Take a break from all blogging activities for one day a week. Go out with a loved one, go for a walk, ride a bike, exercise, read a book or bake a cake. Find another non-blog related activity instead of worrying about your blog ranking and stats. Your blog will be there when you get back, hopefully.
6. Use a RSS Reader. I was a little slow to do this one, but I finally moved all my subscriptions to a RSS Feeder. If you subscribe to a lot of blogs, it can be overwhelming to see you have 100 emails of blog posts to read in addition to all the other email. I can’t log into my personal email at work, but by having everything in an online reader, I can log in and read all of my subscriptions rather quickly without flooding my in-box. Now, all my subscriptions are in one location and when I have time, I sit down to read them as well as leave a comment.

Do you have any stress buster tips for bloggers you can add to the list?

These are just some of the ways I came up with to make blogging less stressful and more enjoyable. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to Digg this post!

Meet the Bloggers, Part Deux

it’s that time again. i thought i’d show some love some to the bloggers on my blogroll, but blogscar style. i even created a badge of honor never to be given out again for the occasion. so without further delay, meet the bloggers, part deux….

try keeping up with this blogger if you can. to me her name is actually a verb and a constant reminder of what i need to do. she stylishly sets the mood for each of her post with a funky converse sneaker. her blog will leave you huffing and puffing with laughter of tales of a mom and woman on the run. not only does she have 19% body fat, but she’s also 100% fun! if you don’t believe me, sprint on over to her blog and see for yourself. for outstanding costume design the blogscar award goes to cardio girl.

get out your dictionary and thesaurus for this next blogger. in her profile, she describes herself as a lover of big words and she even manages to combine two of my favorites in her blog title. this confident, garrulous blogger shows off her incredible writing skills and will leave you laughing out loud. this blog is a must for your feeder or inbox. for best animated feature, the blogscar award goes to the loquaciously verbose ramblings of 1 slacker.

if you are new blogging or just need some guidance, this next blogger offers online lessons and assignments. her posts are informative, educational, thought provoking and she ends each one with a series of questions just to make sure we’ve got the sense of what she’s written. for best direction, the blogscar award goes to blogging without a blog. now while barbara may be a master at blogging without a blog, you will need a computer to access her blog. barbara, thanks for all you do!

in the 1800, this next lord was likely a member of the english aristocracy during the victorian era. “tales of his exhilarating, enthralling and highly erotic exploits were legendary, but now his personal diaries have resurfaced” for all to read. these stories are for the more mature crowd, so proceed with caution. for best actor in a performance, and for teaching me to have fun with titles, the blogscar award is bestowed upon none other than lord likely.

there is nothing random about this next blog, i think it’s intentionally delightful and it happens to be one of my favorite personal blogs. her posts are entertaining, witty and always leave me with wanting more. i also love the navigational links at the top of her blog, it’s like flipping through a great book you don’t want to put down. for best art direction and a great new header, the blogscar goes to my random blog.

so there you have it….this was fun, no commercials, no wardrobe changes…i interrupt this rambling to bring to you one more blog i would like to highlight. i found this blog through stumble upon and have seen it linked at in my heels, so kudos to zen habits who blogs about great ways to be a better you through:

productivity and organization
finance and family
and simplicity

these are the keys to life!

WordPress and DST

If you’ve noticed the time associated with your comments is an hour off, it’s because WordPress does not recognize Daylight Savings Time (DST). If your state participates in DST and you want to fix this, download this plugin, if it doesn’t bother you, do nothing. If you are on the east coast, instead of typing in EST, type in EDT for the correct time.

Oh wait, if it doesn’t bother you, maybe you’ll enjoy this post:

101 Top WordPress Plugins That You May Not Have Known About

Don’t forget to back up your blog before installing any plugin. Oooh, I don’t even want to think about it…unless you want to talk about it.