Internet Newbie Diary

With apologies to Jane, I want to tell you a little more about why I’ve chosen to leave my blog plain.

The most obvious answer would be that I’m lazy… But that’s not it. I actually had a great theme uploaded but messed it up one day and switched back to the default. When I was going back in to fix the new theme, I took a moment to pause.

Yes, just stopped what I was doing to think about how I wanted to use my time.

Crazy, I know, but occasionally I like to actually consider if the time I put into something will have an impact.

In other words, will the input affect the outcome?

To make the question more specific in this case, will a prettier blog have more impact on viewers?

The first answer is that the choice of wording in my question is off. Blogs do not have viewers. Movies have viewers, television shows have viewers. Blogs (and most other online content) have readers.

To me a blog is an opportunity to create a dialogue with a reader (you) and provide a chance to continue that dialogue through comments.

In the case of this blog, people are looking for information. Not whirly-wigs or twirling dervishes. (Of course, feel free to tell me that I’m wrong and I will increase the quotient of twirling dervishes just for you.)

There’s already too much information, too much visual eye-candy to process and as a society we have been conditioned to hop around and click to the next thing.  There is too much information overload and it’s not always the content. One way to turn down the volume, is to turn down the visual distractions.

The message is more important than the pretty header or the number of columns or fancy graphics and plug-ins.

Here’s the point of this post — because you may well be wondering by now if I have one.

I was talking with a reader recently who is building a blog and couldn’t get it right. He has an awesome concept and great information to share. But he’s still struggling with Wordpress and plug-ins and wants it to be absolutely perfect before making it available.

Big Secret Revealed Here:

It will never be perfect. Do something. Do anything. Use the standard default theme (like this one) and just get your blog going. Focus on the message. Be a plain Jane. Or Johnny.

Later, once you have the content available, you can tweak it or go surf or watch tv or play a video game and get all the whirling girly-gigs you want.

2008 has been rung in and I’ve heard from some of you that you’re already feeling wrung out. Or hung out to dry (which is different than hung over or needing to dry-out after New Year festivities).

Here’s what I’m talking about. Closing out a year gives us an opportunity to look back on what has worked and what has not. Where time has been wasted and how efficiencies and improvements can be made for the 12 months ahead.

So far, so good. But that means that rather than starting 2008 as a blank slate, many of us are taking the new year on with a long list of things to do, projects to start (or finish), business models to tweak …

It’s information overload all over again but in a new insidious way that masquerades as a positive thing.

Resolutions. Stock-taking. It’s sometimes just another way to beat yourself up for things you intend to do, but don’t actually get to.
Here’s a solution for how you can truly have a new year.

Take a breather. Forget about the resolution hype. Let January be the last month of 2007. Then, in February, have a look at things again. Once the high-intensity of year end, and new year’s resolutions have passed, you may just see things in a different light and find your priority list becomes not only more manageable, but makes much more sense.

Oh, and Happy New Year.

Well Thanksgiving in the U.S. probably came with a lot of new emails in your inbox. Thankful for this, promo for that .. By the end of it, I just wanted something to be stuffed… And it wasn’t the turkey!

But enough about birds and flighty promotions.

Everybody’s been talking about how video can ramp up your online presence but the truly good programs cost more than a small chunk of change.

Good news on this. The makers of Camtasia, one of the more powerful video applications, is making the product available free of charge. Of course, they’re hoping that you’ll upgrade to the newer version but it’s not required. All you do is download the program and then sign-up to get the registration key:

You can download a full version of Camtasia Studio 3 at:
http://download.techsmith.com/camtasiastudio/enu/312/camtasiaf.exe

Then, sign-up to receive the registration key here:
http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/pcpls.asp

Camtasia Studio 3 is not a trial version. It is a fully functional version of the program. Of course they hope you will upgrade to the new version and will give you the option to upgrade to Camtasia Studio 5 for just $149. That’s 50% off the regular price.

But wait, there’s more …. (I love every opportunity to use that line!)

Techsmith is also giving away their award-winning screen capture utility. You can get SnagIt 7 the same way.

You know the drill now, right?

Download it here:
http://www.oldapps.com/download.php?oldappsid=SnagIt725.exe

Get your registration key here:
http://www.techsmith.com/snagit/ukdn.asp

By the way, there’s no telling how long these will be available for free. So if you’re interested, you should download and register sooner than later.

Techsmith has done something really smart here from a marketing standpoint. Once people are hooked on their software, they will likely - at some point - want the upgraded versions. It’s worth a moment’s thought to think about how you could apply that principle - creating demand for your product - in your own business and online efforts.