ê¿êspi20.com — watching and writing

She calls herself a “mommyblogger” and Lisa’s pride in her family is evident in every word she writes about her two children and husband. It’s very evident that there is a lot of love in this family. Despite going through some rough patches (extraordinarily rough!), they’ve stuck together and weathered the storms that life has sent their way.

Along with this blog, she writes a couple of other blogs that encompass different areas of her life from traveling to cooking. Her interests are wide and she shares them with her readers generously.

Recently she won a trip to San Diego, CA sponsored by Sony. She got to try out 3 new Sony cameras and I am super envious of her good fortune! I own a Sony DSC-H2, but lust for a DSLR and she got one! The photos she posted from her trip are so clear and beautiful!

They’re remodeling their basement and Lisa’s taking us through the fun times they’re having doing that not-so-little do-it-yourself project. Their plans sound awesome and I can’t wait to see photos of the finished room. I know their family will benefit greatly from having the room to spread out in. It’s hard keeping a neat home with two little ones underfoot, so having a great-room for them to play in will make housekeeping chores much easier on Lisa.

My Thoughts, Ideas and Ramblings is just one of those blogs that make you pull up the most comfortable chair in the house, cup of tea at your side and settle in for an enjoyable glimpse into a home full of love and fun.

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Image via Wikipedia

Let’s face it, I just suck at SEO. I can’t write great titles that get picked up by Google and I can’t seem to write keyword laden copy, either.

What has me discovering this fact at this late stage of the game you ask?

Statistics.

Yep, I’ve looked at my site statistics.

They’ve told me a multitude of things and now I’m hooked on watching statistics wherever I go. My host has AWSTATS as one of the site statistics tools available and it’s telling me that my top most keyword phrase is “review” — just that “review”.  And the next most searched keyword phrase is — get this — “playboy gallery”

While I REVIEW a lot of things from products to hotels, restaurants and other blogs, I’ve only ever used the words  “playboy” and  “gallery” in ONE POST and not even as a phrase in that post! I get nothing for “tingle crotch” which should garner me a few hits since it’s also only mentioned in one post, but no, neither of the words nor the phrase has a single percentage point. At least I can revel in the fact that there are a satisfying number of hits on “Planet Hollywood” which I’ve written about extensively even if it’s not the most searched phrase in my repertoire.

I’m reduced to searching the web for articles on writing SEO-worthy titles and tips on how to maximize keywords in my posts. It’s confusing me — I just want to WRITE what comes spewing out of my brain. It’s the creative side of me that writes, not the logical side. The logical side is the one that thinks about SEO and keywords.

So, is this lack of synchronization between my two brain sides going to penalize me in the afterlife of web optimization? Am I doomed to anonymity because I can’t write for a ROBOT or some kind of algorithm?

Possibly.

Ok, Ok, Alright already!

PROBABLY

:p

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I’ve stumbled across some unusual blogs this week. I hope you enjoy my finds!

Rag Tree People is a blog written by artists Darlene and Renee who make these whimsical sculptures and candles with delicious sounding  names. The sculptures are definitely unique and original. I enjoy the photo illustrated transformations from clay lumps into fantasy.

Another crafty blog is Stormy Designs. I confess to a weakness for dragons and most things mystical in nature and this artist indulges me in that weakness.

Obscure History brings up interesting bits of history from the US and Australia. I’ve been quite intrigued by some of the articles written here.

RWS Photo blog is photographs of plants, insects and animals taken in the jungles of Borneo. I may never get to travel to places like this, but these photos are the next best thing.

I hope you take  a few minutes to visit my finds!

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Self described as a "dot com guru" Shanker Bakshi doesn’t fit the mold too well.

He writes about such things as social networks, passion for blogging and parking in London; my personal favorite is his post titled Five Reasons Why You Should and Should Not Comment which gives good reasons when and when not to comment on a post as well as exposing some who may be guilty of the more nefarious transgressions in commenting. Thank goodness this site has EXCELLENT commentators who never commit any of these comment faux pas! 

There’s really not a lot about HOW to make money online on this site; just a lot of examples of how HE’s making money online. Leading by example is good! It doesn’t force-feed those of us who are perceptive enough to not let the lesson go over our heads, but for those who are less aware, the message isn’t going to make the target.

His side bars are full of ads from several different advertising widgets which, unlike MY sidebars have plenty of affiliate ads in them (do you hear a streak of jealousy in that statement?). He apparently writes for several pay-to-blog companies  and despite an obvious need of some English lessons, does a good job of getting his point across in those articles.

It’s quite apparent that he’s a worshipper at the John Chow altar of online success since, without the lunch posts, he emulates Mr Chow in many things and writes about him often.  I think Mr. Bakshi is successful enough in his own right and more importantly, with the style that’s emerging as time goes by that’s uniquely his own that he could now afford to sever those apron strings.

Mr. Bakshi has made his share of errors along the way. He’s participated in memes designed to spread his links virally across the Internet, Is finding out the hard way that contests without the hook of large enough or unique enough reward are not going to bring in the readers and that no matter how many times you link to the big guys, it’s THEM linking to YOU that’s going to work the biggest magic. He doesn’t need to use any of the excuses he wrote about in his post "What Excuses You Make When You Don’t Succeed" as it’s apparent that he’s on his own track to success.

While this isn’t the sort of blog I read on any regular basis, there is content here worthy of checking out. ShankerBakshi.com.

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