Blogging – Jeffc.me

You Interview Me

January 15, 2009 By Jeffro 8 Comments

As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post, January 29th will most likely be the last interview I publish for BloggerTalks.com. To go out in style, I thought it would be fun if my last interview was one of myself. However, Andrew Rickmann gave me the great idea to have other people interview me instead. So, I asked people on Twitter to submit a question they would ask me if they had the chance to interview me. Only a few people have participated thus far so I’d like to extend this opportunity to you.

Just leave a comment with your question on this blog post. It does not have to strictly be centered around WordPress. I would prefer it be in the realm of blogging but it doesn’t have to be. On January 29th, I’ll compile the chosen questions and answer them.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: bloggertalks, interview, questions

Always Two Days Behind

January 1, 2009 By Jeffro 6 Comments

What a difference it is to blog for yourself rather than for others. When I look back to when I started Jeffro2pt0.com, one thing that pops out immediately is the satisfaction I felt by writing about the things I was interested in without a deadline. Back then, I could (and did) take hours to write up a comprehensive review or I could spend 15 minutes writing about a news blurb. Getting comments on those articles and being able to move on to the next one is refreshing compared to what I do now. Granted, I didn’t have any blogging related income at the time, I think that being paid to blog is a restriction in and of itself. Although for the longest time, I felt that if someone could just pay me to write on my own blog, on the topics I find interesting with no restrictions, I would be in blogging heaven. That will never happen since understandably, it is a risky investment. Not that I would want that to happen anyways since the purpose of Jeffro2pt0 has changed since then.

I know David Peralty of BrandingDavid.com feels the same way I do and I’m sure many others do as well where we wake up each day feeling like we’re two days behind. A post needs to be written for this site, that site, our own site, and once those are written/published, you start over and do it again. This feeling of always being behind sucks as it takes its toll on the human mind/emotions. After awhile, blogging isn’t fun anymore at least blogging for others. Now, I should make the point that writing for others is not that bad when you are writing about your passion and working with great people but as an individual, when you are spread out amongst 3-5 websites, the quality of writing suffers, it’s not fun anymore, and I feel as if I gain nothing by subjecting myself to that kind of lifestyle on the web.

I made the decision a long time ago to write/work for others instead of myself because I have no interest in the advertising side of things. With WPTavern, that mindset has changed and now I am really looking forward to getting back to writing about my passion along with the things that interest me with the only restrictions being the ones I put on myself. I only hope that this can pay the bills or else I may find myself back at square one.

What about you? Do you ever get that feeling of always being two days behind? Even on days when you “catch up” and do things ahead of time, the feeling of accomplishment appears to be short lived. How do you handle that feeling? Better yet, how do you avoid feeling that way?

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: Blogging, freelancing, writing

People Call Me WordPress Guru

November 18, 2008 By Jeffro 4 Comments

Or, WordPress community superstar. At any rate, these are all names given to me, not names I have chosen. But, as long as its not derogatory, I’ll take them. Mayank of BlogDesignStudio.com has published an interview he conducted with yours truly. In it, I confess about my fear of roller coasters, provide insight into my blogging opportunities with BloggerTalks and Performancing, and at the end of the article, provide a number of tips in one paragraph related to blogging/freelance writing.

Go on over and check it out and let me know what you think.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: blogdesignstudio, Blogging, interview, jeffchandler

Freelancing Week 2: A Good Start

November 10, 2008 By Jeffro 6 Comments

Well, today is Monday which marks week number 2 of my freelancing journey. So far, I’m off to a great start with two articles already published, an interview lined up, show notes for both podcasts adjusted, a few administrative tasks done and I’ve made a few comments on some blog posts. Seems like a productive start to the week. It will get even better once my second guest post is published on Problogger which is nothing more than a review of Sphere. Hoping this post does as well as the first. I’ll try to get things straightened out around here during the weekend.

Now I am off to bed at 9:36 AM hoping that I wake up at about 3PM to grab a shower and spend the evening with my girl.

Before I let you go, I wanted to share something with you and would like your input. I wrote about this on Performancing but I’ll share it here as well. I came across a post in Twitter which made me pause and think for a moment.

definetheline: The weekend used to mean ‘no work’. Now it means ‘stop working on the things you don’t want to do, and work on the things you want to do’.

Let me know if this sounds like the weekend to you.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: freelancing, posts, problogger, update, work

Difference Between Blogger And Publisher

November 8, 2008 By Jeffro 5 Comments

What is the difference between a blogger and a publisher? Have the lines between the two blurred so much that there is no difference? Some say that the difference between labeling someone a publisher or a blogger is size. The size of what though? The site? The amount of content they produce? The type of content? Lets talk about it.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: blogger, Blogging, publisher, question

Plants Can Blog To

October 27, 2008 By Jeffro Leave a Comment

Watch the video to find out how.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: Blogging, blogs, plants, potplant

Blogging Is A Juggling Act

October 5, 2008 By Jeffro 7 Comments

As I reach ever closer to my goal of being able to use blogging and online activity as my primary source of income, I am finding it increasingly difficult to manage my time to accomplish tasks from day to day. I’m currently bringing in around $1,300.00 a month from my blogging ventures but that cash is spread out amongst 3-4 different jobs. On top of this, I work 32 hours a week from 9PM-5AM and that doesn’t seem to make things any better. I’ve also noticed that my sleeping pattern has changed to the point where I am really sleeping in instead of waking up at a decent time. This is leaving me with even less time to get things done and it is driving me up the wall.

I’m really thinking about cutting myself down to weekends only for a little while to see if I can get my life back on track. I envy those like Lorelle and others who seem to write mile long posts and publish things on time. These folks make it seem easy although I doubt it really is.

Kudos to those out there who are making a living online by creating content while also maintaining a social life as well as a second job.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: Blogging, juggling, management, time

Thank You Commentators

September 2, 2008 By Jeffro 1 Comment

Just wanted to pass along a quick thank you to the top five commenter’s for the month of August.

Andrew
Sierra
Trisha
Ian Stewart
Justin Tadlock

I really appreciate you guys and gals for sticking around and being part of the discussions which take place on the blog. I can handle blogging into an empty chamber but having some commentary around makes blogging a much more fun, engaging experience.

This blog post was an entry in the blogging challenge created by the Perfcast Podcast.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: blogging challenge, challenge, comments, perfcast

Is This How Comment Spam Works

August 23, 2008 By Jeffro 6 Comments

As I was checking out my Akismet spam filter one day, I noticed a comment that was labeled differently than most of the other ones I’ve seen. This comment linked to a site called BotMaster. According to the site, BotMaster sells a service called Xrumer that comes bundled with Hrefer which is an automated link-building tool. BotMaster claims that the tool has nothing to do with spam and that its primary purpose is to build links and search engine power to your site.

These are funny claims considering a comment which was created by the BotMaster software appeared in Akismet as spam. This is the first time I’ve come across an actual site selling services/software for link building purposes. The software will set you back $450.00 but that seems like a high price to pay to have whatever site you are promoting to show up in Akismet as spam.

I am not trying to actively support or advertise this service but rather, highlight the fact that these things do exist. This makes me wonder how much spam is generated on forums and blogs with software such as this. Anyone else come across botmaster within their own Akismet interface?

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: akismet, botmaster, bots, comments, spam

Back To The Beginning – Then And Now

August 9, 2008 By Jeffro 2 Comments

Then And Now Life sucks without the Internet. So to kill time, I’ve been going through my backup files to figure out which ones I feel I can definitely live without. While organizing my backup files, I came across a text file which contains all of my posts from my blogging venture over at EFx2.com. What an interesting read. What I call my very first blog post in 2004 contained an abundant amount of typos with no regard to grammar. As a trip back in time and for archival purposes, here is what my very first blog post looked like.

General: Something Fresh
Wednesday, November 17, 2004 05:52 PM

Well I’m pretty new to the blog scene when it comes to having my own. I have read over the years about blogging, and I have seen many many weblogs that just end because well I guess they get boring and people don’t want to update them anymore.

I will try not to let that happen here. I am currently pretty involved with Photoshop and graphics design. Recently I have developed some skills related to Cinema4d, a 3D rendering program. Using this program allows me to create some cool renders that I have been using for some of my abstract wallpapers.

I hope to see you around and go ahead and leave a comment in the shoutbox. I will be at work turning this blogging site into a spiffy graphical wonder in the next few weeks or at least see where my limits are with this system.

General is the category while Something Fresh was the name of the post. You know, I think I remember that day in November when I hit the publish button for the first time. So what have I learned since then?

Spell checking is a godsend.

I’m a much better writer, now that I have blogged for such a long period of time. I’m getting better with each post.

Blogging is still fun when you write about the things that interest you.

Comments are still one of the best things I love about blogging.

The friendships I have made over the years through blogging have been wonderful.

Back in 2004, there was no Web 2.0. It seemed like blogging was much simpler just four years ago. Now a days, you have videos, screencasts, podcasts, audio posts, images, galleries, massive interaction, and everywhere you look, there is something embeddable. I may sound like an old fart reminiscing the good ole days, but I’m simply comparing two different time periods of blogging. I’m sure those who started blogging back in 2000 have much more to say in regards to then and now.

What I’m interested in, is hearing your history of blogging. Create a blog post and link back to this one if you must or simply leave a comment. When did you start blogging? What changes have you noticed between then and now? If you feel a little daring, you can also share your thoughts on the future of blogging.

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: Blogging, efx2, past, present