Daddy Forever is giving away a Lenovo ThinkCentre A63 tower computer and two ThinkVision L1951P LCD monitors and I have to say, I’m in! We all know how old my computer is and as well as it’s served me and as much as I love it, I wouldn’t mind having something newer and something with two monitors! So here’s my blog post entry and here’s hoping that I win. XD
I am reading random blogs, linked on EntreCard (also debating still being a member as I get few drops and rarely find any blogs worth reading. The widget is just taking up room on Reviews by Cole), when I stumbled across a post which said this:
Every good blogger carries a camera with them at all times
It wasn’t the point of the post, even. The blogger had broken her camera while in her purse and was looking for some advice but that’s what my mind honed in because all I could think was: Huh? Because you have to be ready to snap a picture when something happens in a moment’s notice? Wait, isn’t that what a photographer does? So now all bloggers have to be photogs, too?
I don’t buy it. Remember how blogging, a form of journaling, started out on manually coded webpage which didn’t look too snazzy? Me, too! And you know what blogging was all about? Text, like the very stuff I am writing now (or, that you are reading right now. Hurry up, by the way, you’re slowing my typing speed ;)).
Of course, many bloggers post photos, they are helpful or just pretty sometimes. The photos are more important for some than others; there are even things such as photoblogs which focus only on photography. I have often thought I should post more but if I don’t, my blog isn’t losing anything. My voice shines through quite well with just text, thank you very much.
Photography is really the new web design. Everyone and there dog has a camera, which probably explains all the dog pictures. d= People are studying photography and making money from it the way they used to study HTML and graphic making. The general standard for photography has risen, just the way the standard for web design rose over the past decade. What was considered acceptable in previous years is now laughable, in both fields.
As standards have risen, tools which help us to meet or exceed them have popped up as well. Even uncustomized WordPress themes are heads and shoulders above the sites I used to see in 1999 and even my several-year-old digital camera produces pictures far superior to any of those I can recall in the family photo album. And I’m neither as educated or motivated about photography as some. DSLR cameras are no longer only in the hands of the pros which is sort of a double edged sword but my point remains the same: photography is everywhere. And it’s totally cool if it’s not my thing and dabbling in more than one art has its advantages, too.
But just because it’s everywhere doesn’t mean someone should expect it. Just because we all could run out and buy fancy cameras with fancy lenses and do fancy bokeh shots, doesn’t mean we have to. And just because we blog, doesn’t mean we have to include photos. All we “have” to do is type and the result is a blog.
So what do I say in response to this (besides everything I’ve already said?)
Every good blogger carries a good head on their shoulders at all times
And you can quote me on that!
I am female, I am married and my husband is in the military. All of these things generally indicate that I “should” have children and that we don’t does make us kind of the odd ones out but I’m generally okay with it. It also makes me the minority when it comes to blogging. You see, 5 or so years ago when I was in the prime of my teens I hung out in a lot of communities made up of peers around my age and more folks has blogs than did not. Teen bloggers were a sizable force but as we have grown up, our numbers dwindled and today’s teens don’t show nearly the interest that we did a few years ago. I’m okay with that, too, as I still enjoy it. It’s why I’m here and doing NaBloPoMo.
In their wake, “Mommmy Bloggers” as they are called (but who first called them that, I have no idea) stormed the scene and I’m cool with that, too. Girl power and all that. I don’t want to be stereotypical but it seems like a lot of stay-at-home-moms found the internet around the same time; perhaps the recent economic conditions contributed to more people being at home again or perhaps there’s no real reason and I’m just making stuff up. I’m not making up what a sizeable force they have become, however.
Recently, PR companies and people have started to look at the blogosphere as a way to spread word and have been offering their products and services for reviews and giveaways. As a blogger, I love the idea of being recognized for my contribution and, hey, who doesn’t want free stuff, right? But these PR folks have been majorly focusing on Mommy bloggers (it makes sense if they are doing a lot of the household shopping, I’ll give you that) and, in addition to their sheer numbers, “Mommy blogger” has pretty much become synonymous with “review blogger” even though it’s totally and completely erroneous.
There are daddy bloggers and retired bloggers and travel bloggers and grandparent bloggers and working professional bloggers and all sorts of bloggers who do not fall into the category of mommy blogger and they are being completely overlooked not only by PR folks but the community at large. A while back, I was reading an article on Blog Friendly PR about blogger-PR relationships and instead of “review blogger” it used “mommy blogger” as if there are no reviewers who are not moms. I’m a female, I blog and I review but I have no kids. I recently joined BlogHer but, to my dismay, that oversight runs rampant there as well.
I’ve visited at least a hundred review blogs in the last month (that number is probably really low but I’m trying to be cautious), about 95% of which were moms and their sidebars were filled with buttons for other mommy blogs and groups and communities but nothing general. There are not very many review communities it seems and I’d hesitate to call any of them quality but even the “general” ones have an undertone of mommy.
So here I am. I’m not a mom and you know why that works? Because I can offer unique insight and reviews about products that moms may never have a need for, because my lifestyle doesn’t involve kids which may just mean more time to dedicate to more interests, including your product.
I’ve nothing against mommy bloggers. They’re here to stay and their perspective is respected for a reason but they’re not everyone or everything. I’m just tired of feeling like the rest of us don’t matter.
I’ve been spending more time aruond review blogs and the mommy review community in specific. It’s got some very unique traits that don’t transfer over to the blogosphere, for better or worse. There’s definitely more of a sense of community than the blogosphere overall. There’s more interaction and perhaps some of that is very shallow and is only dependent on giveaways and other superfluous content but even shallow interaction is more than some folks will ever see.
There’s also a lot of linkage going on in a way that reminds me of what it was like to have a blog 5 years ago. No, make that more like 10 years ago. It’s not a bad thing. For one, it boosts interaction and exposure and, for another, it helps Google PageRank which is something a lot of people are looking for when it comes to sponsoring items or paying for advertising. Linking is just another way in which the community is supportive.
And I don’t have anything bad to say about the principle of the thing; it’s just that the way people actually do it really isn’t helping. I know one of the reasons is because a lot of review blogs are Blogger hosted and there’s no good way to deal with linking blogs with buttons but… I’ve come across one too many pages which dozens and dozens of randomly sized buttons linking to others. To put it plainly: it looks like crap. If you do it, take a step back. It looks horrible and you are diminishing the value of your site. It’s the simple truth. If your content ends and the viewer has to scroll more than once because of a sidebar full of mismatched buttons, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
My suggestion? Bring back the button wall: a grid of neatly arranged, same-sized buttons all on one page. Hell, done well, it could even be added to a footer and look better than it does on most sites.
Of course, in order for this to work we have to go back to a standard sized button. It seems like 88×31 has seen its hey-day so 125×125 pixels is probably the solution; most people are already using it. Everyone else can just get on board.
Of course, Blogger doesn’t allow people to easily add pages so people have to work out it by creating posts (usually several years in the past so they don’t show up in recent archives) and then linking to it like a page. It’s not the prettiest solution but it is one solution.
And you know what else? It just might help PageRank to only have a few of your preferred links on the front page. Linking to tons of sites on every page can actually lower your PR. Moving all your links to a different page will not only make your blog look better but could potentially raise your rank. Not too shabby, eh? I didn’t think so.
Now get to it!
On a serious note, I really think this is an ideal solution to the cluttered sidebars I have seen recently and I wouldn’t mind if folks took the initiative to spread this post.
November is National Blog Posting Month (as well as National Novel Writing Month) and I tihnk I’m going to give it a try. My entries here have been sparse lately as I focus on other projects but I do have several drafts set up for when the ideas are running low. Luckily, I posted yesterday so I’m off to a good start!
