------- Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine ------- Vol 1, Issue 1 Welcome to the very first issue of the "Clearing Up the Confusion" e-zine. I'm looking forward to chatting with you every couple of weeks. My goal is to tell you about some of the cool things I've found out on the web, books I've read, or thoughts I've had about running your own business and the technology that can help. Articles might be about tools to improve your website, how to organize your life, or just to entertain and amuse. Sit back and enjoy! I always enjoy hearing from you, so if you have any comments or suggestions, please send them to me at gpeters@cyberdatasolns.com. Greg Peters, Feb 19, 2007 Table of Contents 1. Article 2. Blog Posts 3. Guest Article 4. Fine Print 1. Article I recently visited Huron Valley Ambulance as a part of the Leadership Ann Arbor course. There, I found out an interesting fact. When a call comes in for an ambulance, the dispatcher tells the closest ambulance to go to the intersection nearest the location. So, when they roll out, the drivers don't know the exact address. Dispatch gets that information later, while the ambulance is en route. As they near the destination, the EMT's adjust their path to go to the specific address. They save time by acting on *sufficient*, but not total information. Sometimes you just have to start. I've been meaning to start an e-zine for several months now. My biggest challenge to the process? The usual -- paralysis of analysis. I always have to come up with the "perfect" plan before I start. I have to research the software, create the template, decide on frequency, format, and theme, line up or write articles, etc, etc, etc. And nothing gets done. So, today I decided just to start. One of my biggest concerns about beginning this process is that, once you hop on the back of the tiger, you'd better hang on tight to both his ears. I was worried that I might not have enough time to write, or not be able to find enough to write about. Of course, with services such as ezinearticles.com (more on that in the future) and with the pace of development out on the Web today, that latter worry was probably a needless concern. As for the former, I write emails all day long. Some of them are longer than any article *I* would want to read. Now, there are *plenty* of tools to support the creation and management of e-zines. I'll probably look into those in the future. For right now, though, a simple text-based format and the mailing list facilities (called "MailMan") provided by my hosting service are all that I need to get going. As my wife, numerous books, my mom, several business coaches, colleagues, friends, aquaintances, television commercials, and even a few complete strangers on the street have told me, just start, you can make it better later. Wish me luck! Copyright 2007, Greg Peters 2. Blog Posts Links to posts on the "Clearing Up the Confiusion" Blog from the last year: July 27, 2006 -- Are You Board Yet? http://clearing-confusion.blogspot.com/2006/07/are-you-board-yet.html January 03, 2007 -- Cool Tools: Picasa http://clearing-confusion.blogspot.com/2007/01/cool-tools-picasa.html 3. Guest Article Excerpt from "Blogging Schmogging: 6 Ways to Pump Up Your Posting Prowess" by Scott Ginsberg It's the most important part of the Internet today. It's a highly controversial issue in the area of free speech. It's the reason anybody in the world -- businessperson, grad student, church pastor, pilot or teenager - can have a voice. It's a blog. And if you don't know what that word means, prepare to be enlightened. Let's start with the facts. The following list will give you a crash course on blogging basics: # A blog is a journal that is available on the web, short for the word "weblog" # Blogs generally represent the personality of an individual or website # A blog is a frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links # The activity of updating a blog is "blogging," someone who keeps a blog is a "blogger," and all the blogs in the world represent the "blogosphere" # Blogs are typically updated daily using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog # A blog is often a mixture of what is happening in a person's life and what is happening on the Web, a kind of hybrid diary/guide site, although there are as many unique types of blogs as there are people # People maintained blogs long before the term was coined, but the trend gained momentum with the introduction of automated published systems, most notably Blogger at blogger.com # The content and purposes of blogs varies greatly -- from links and commentary about other web sites, to news about a company/person/idea, to diaries, photos, poetry, mini-essays, project updates, even fiction." Ok. Now that you're up to speed on the term, let's explore six ways to pump up your posting prowess. TIP #1: Consistency Technorati is THE authority on what's going on in the world of blogs. According to their website, they currently track 20.8 million blogs. Sadly, many of them lack consistency. And too many people create a blog simply for the sake of creating a blog. In other words, they're not updated regularly. The blogger posts a dozen or so posts initially, and then forgets all about it. Therein lies the first key point: if you're going to blog, blog often. After all, it IS a marketing tool. You wouldn't run one newspaper ad on a random Tuesday and never advertise again. You'd do it consistently. So at the least, post more than twice a week. To read the rest of this article go to: http://www.hellomynameisscott.com/articles.aspx?arGUID=10bf8220-77ba-42ce-aa01-0a4b71ed733d 4. The Fine Print 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. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Greg Peters is required, with notification to the original author. We never send the "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-zine uninvited, and we NEVER share, sell or rent our mailing list to anyone. Your privacy is safe with us.