Great Technology Sources, Tips, and Tricks

I'm always trying to learn... In fact this is one of my favorite mantras: "Always learning." Here are some useful sites I've come across, that may help to improve your blog, digital photography skills, and some useful general reference sites.

First, about blogging. Most who blog know there are over 50 million blogs out in the blogosphere (stat from Technorati's founder David Sifry), with two new blogs started every second, and the blog population doubling every six months. So, what to do to promote your blog?

Well, I've been using some methods that have increased my visibility tremendously in the past few weeks. I've been getting 500-750 unique visits a day since implementing these following factors. Granted, these stats may include search engine webcrawlers, spiders, and bots; which are virtually impossible to separate from actual human visits. Even with Google Analytics, StatCounter or my own domain WebStatistics (I'm now tracking all three for stats). And of course, most peeps (like myself) deny "tracking cookies" which would give more accurate counts, so take these numbers as you will.

I still use Blogger for blogging, but some seem to say WordPress is better. I'm beginning to consider switching, in fact, because of some additional features WP offers. Of course, the new Blogger Beta offers many of these features, but seems to still have a few kinks to work out before offering the stability and ease of the current Blogger application.

While I'm on the subject of resources, have you ever checked the "More Google Products" page? It is full of available offerings from the global internet search leader. I had no idea. Definitely recommend a visit.

While I'm on the subject of recommendations, the blog Recommended (that I've blogged before) has a few recent article links worth a look. First, an article about picking colors for websites and blogs. Which are the most effective background colors for text? What to use to pick colors? It's all there. Also, 10 helpful tips to improve your digital photography, a great article that may truly help inspire better snapping.

Now back to some stats and facts. Pew Internet & American Life Project has some great resources about internet users, blogging, and other technology-based articles. I know, the name ain't very sexy, but the website is pretty meaty (a great Hollywood buzzword, I'll add).

This About.com article has 10 tips on promoting your blog. Pretty much it's the standard fare you'd expect, but the list is comprehensive and also specific. I'd say without a doubt, pinging your blog to several sources is going to offer the best exposure without costing anything. I use Ping-O-Matic and FeedBurner, which cover a wide range of engines between the two.

I've written more about my blog resources here and here if you're looking for even more deets. The most important factors (I'm noticing) are to have some sort of focus that identifies your blog. I, personally, would not ever visit a blog just to get current news articles. The major news networks do that already.

I try to offer a bit of everything that encompasses my life here in San Francisco: fashion, movie news, technology, events, and other art subjects. Obviously, I am not a believer in a blog having to remain on only ONE specific topic. If you're that focused, that's okay too... Really I figure, if something interesting intersects my life, others may find this helpful or interesteing...

But as much as anything else, this blog is still a resource for me to use to save pages and links I like. Lastly, I try to blog every day. When I don't post, I don't get as many visitors... If I didn't post regularly, I doubt I would have any return visitors, I figure. There's my rant. Thanks for visiting. Remember, every Thursday I post upcoming weekend events in SF. Cheers.