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@lightening does that mean you were naked before now in reply to lightening #

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As such I have revised the schedule to produce one consolidated post per week.

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Now at this stage the jury is out on the benefits of Twitter. As a friend recently put it Twitter is just the FaceBook status update. Essentially he is correct, however there are a few people on Twitter that I would like to keep in contact with. Hell, who knows others may pop up over time.

Taking his comment though I thought wouldn’t it be cool if I could push blog announcements to Twitter and FaceBook. This has been accomplished and works well using established WordPress Plugins (Twitter Tools and WordBook). So I can now announce to both Social Networks that I have published something to read.

I also decided to allow Twitter Tools to construct a daily and monthly blog entry of all tweets. This would then serve as a record of those actions on that site within my blog. Yes this is not necessarily a well structured post, but it is captured a snapshot of my activities. As it is a blog entry it is also announced on FaceBook, good stuff. This will also mean that lengthy times without a post will not occur as I am constantly on the Twitter doing stuff … at least until I get the final leg of the triangle in motion..

I then thought about completing the triangle. That is “FaceBook to WordPress” and “FaceBook to Twitter”. “FaceBook to WordPress” was easily accomplished by the PressThis plugin that interrogates my FaceBook status newsfeed. This is then placed in my sidebar. Brilliant, yes there is a bit of delay, but I can live with that. Heck, I can live with once every 24 hour updates from Twitter, so once every hour for FaceBook updates is brilliant.

So the final part of the triangle is “FaceBook to Twitter”. This is proving problematic as the only available FaceBook application (Twitter Updater) to perform this task seems to not be working for 50% of its user base since FaceBook updated it’s publisher and home pages to the new look. I am hopeful that the developers are working on this and that all should be well soon, however it is frustrating to say the least presently. Something that seems so simple is proving very difficult indeed.

PS: I have also seen that for some reason my Twitter account was receiving over 100 attempts for remote access. Whilst I am hesitant to blame the Twitter Updater it is hard to see what else could be the source of this bombardment.

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I also took the opportunity to review the plugins I had installed. I have removed several that we no longer of much use. I have though added the Sociable add-in to allow anyone that cares to share an article very easy access to do so. This replaced another less functional social bookmarking site.

As of a week or so ago I have jumped into using FaceBook quite heavily. I have as a result looked for and found a nice plugin that will update my Facebook whenever I publish an article. The plugin is called WordBook by Robert Tsai and is allowing me to update both sites very easily indeed. The update will appear as a post on my profile.

I also decided to join Twitter and have added a WordPress plugin to automatically send an update whenever a blog is posted. This plugin is called Twitter Tools and is written by Alex King. Again allowing me to perform two things with one click.

Anyway, thats it for now.

As you can imagine gardening is a very small niche and is often only frequented by those that are keen gardeners. The general run of the mill netizen is not all that interested in the subject, however I am capturing some interest from these netizens. This is by keeping the content straight forward and understandable. Also a smattering of geek and personal news intersperses the gardening articles. This keeps people hooked I have found. Although I do try and stay faithful to my niche and am being careful not to flood the blog with other non-related materials.

The Drop Strategy
The second part of the strategy is the card dropping methods I have been employing. In large this is a bit of a rehash of a comment I left at On Blogging Australia and a summary of a thread at the Aussie Bloggers Forum, for those that have now read this a number of times apologies in advance.

The card dropping strategy is very straight forward and has proven very successful with my site being in the top 3 of the Home and Garden category since about the second week of participation. I am a chain dropper, however I do take the time to scan and read some of the articles. I even comment on a number of these sites and participate in the community. I have discovered many sites of great value to me across a wealth of topics.

1. Drop on those network of fellow bloggers that I am familiar with through forum discussions. For me this is a collection of contacts from the Aussie Bloggers Forums and Blog Catalog. These contacts always reciprocate.
2. Those that have taken the time to consider my site and are willing to advertise are next on the list. My clients are often more than happy to reciprocate with a drop back or two.
3. The next hit list are those fellow Entrecard participants that I wish to, or am, advertising with. Showing them that I do take the time to look at their site, and not simply clicking from the Dashboard is an important step. Often too these sites will be the ones with the more interesting articles, and I will be moved to participate within their blog.
4. Return the favour to those Drop on those that dropped on me. As per above, even the chain droppers, have taken the time to visit my site.
5. Drop on those that drop on me regularly that are in the top 10 from the details page. Even if these guys do not participate in a discussion, they are constant visitors and my hope is that sooner or later one of my articles will arouse their interest.
6. Next on the drop parade are those blogs that threw me the most traffic from previous advertisements. They are also the ones that I am likely to advertise with again.
7. Drop on the new arrivals. These are the credit poor people of Entrecard and are often thankful for the credits. Some I also try to advertise on, but these spots are snapped up lickety split.
8. Complete drops by dropping on the smaller categories. Those categories are often the ones with <20 members and do not attract much attention from the world. As such they are often more than happy to reciprocate.

I have also begun performing similar drops for Sockos Spot. Again that is reaping rewards with numerous advertising requests coming in from sites that did not know about Sockos Spot in the past. It is building a readership and that in turn is improving the reach of the sites.

Thanking my Advertisers
I am also now sending a personal message of thanks to those that have decided to place an advertisement on my widget. The idea was inspired by the excellent article Entrecard: Social Advertising for Bloggers that in turn was inspired by The Cheap Gourmet. The reason for this thanks is that these are the people that have taken the time to evaluate my site and make the decision to advertise on my screen real estate. The act of thanking will encourage that client, and that is what they are, to advertise again. It also opens up another social network opportunity on Entrecard.

Thanking Those That Allow me to Advertise
By admission I have been a little lax here, but I am making every endeavour to thank those fellow Entrecard members that have permitted my advertisement on their widget.

Remember that Entrecard is a social network of sorts. So be social in its use.

Recently though I participated in a discussion at Space of Reality around whether or not there is a valid reason for white lies. Today I was shocked and thankful to see that this fellow blogger has gone to the extreme of handing out rewards for the commentary. I have thus won an Honest Blogger Award, which is the badge below.

This is a great incentive to continue returning to Space of Reality as it demonstrates the willingness of Hye to facilitate a discussion. Thanks Hye.

Transformation of SCHWOIT from a general run of the mill social commentary site that was infrequently updated, to a frequently updated and niche focussed blog was the beginning of turning the blog around. I went from discussing many subjects that enthused me for a week or so, and then they faded into the distance. Now I have a passion for gardening and am more than happy to share my experiences in my developing passion. Whilst I am not an expert by any stretch, I am willing to learn and research. So sharing my experiences, and nifty inexpensive ideas is giving me a constant content source. Content is after all king in the blogging game.

Another part of the transition was to a new clean skin for the site. The new skin is a complete departure from the old scheme that had a black background. The new skin is much more readable and complementary to the content. The old black site was one that I liked and was around for many months, however I am much happier with the new skin.

The second part, and the bit that has seen the traffic numbers is my embracing of some social networking sites. The first being Blog Catalog. A great social networking site that has made many people aware of the sites existence. It is important to be a regular contributor to be seen in the forums. There are a great number of really knowledgeable and helpful people there from around the entire globe. Many topics are discussed from religion (ugh), blogging tips and development, and general idle chit chat. I have found many a useful tip or had a good chuckle.

Site number two is a forum for Aussie Bloggers at Aussie Bloggers Forum. The forums again reward active members that involve themselves in constant communication. Many of the members of the forum are very knowledgeable in the blogging fraternity, and all are friendly. Many of my regular readership are now from the forums and I am happy they are.

The third site is Entrecard. Entrecard is a site that allows bloggers to advertise for free by exchanging Entrecard Credits. A bloggers 125 x 125 banner is displayed on a fellow bloggers site for a 24 hour period. This allows for other people to discover your site. Primarily fellow Entrecard users, but other curious people also can click through to your site. Of late many sites have been discussing the validity of the traffic and the service. However, Entrecard has brought SCHWOIT many new readers and participants. In fact I will credit it with the majority of the credit. I will discuss my strategy for success in a subsequent post.

Another site that I am about to begin partaking in heavily soon is Blotanical. This is a site for gardening bloggers to discover one another and share tips. I have not been too active yet, however will with time permitting be starting to leverage its offerings. If nothing more than to research what others out there are growing and how. I believe it will be a stellar information source that will enrich my own sites content, and thus help keep the interest of the readership that I have built up.

All this took less than a month to achieve and it does require working at. However, this and similar strategies are rewarding for bloggers as we like to know there is other people out there that are listening. I fully appreciate all the traffic, even the chain dropping Entrecard users that many whinge about. The reason is that if I can convert 2% of those users to a regular visitor and contributor then my efforts are worth it.

So now I have done my geek post for the week I will get back to gardening. Time to research the best way to prepare and move worms and plants from the big smoke to the Illawarra. On that the sites tag line will remain, the Gong is still an urban jungle. It is just not an old growth forest!

Unfortunately, over recent months the #Peers.20s channel has dwindled in numbers with users flocking to other rooms such as #Chat and #Lounge. Thus a tough decision was made to cease the room for good. As a result the web site that I used to host at http://peers20s.schwoit.com has also ended and is now redirected here for the next month or so, after which time it to will cease.

I still thoroughly recommend the Induced IRC network run by knowledgeable and responsible administrators. It remains the premier chat service in Australia, and when I do squeeze in a chat that is where I will be hanging. If you wish to give it a go simply click Chat Australia. There is a small applet that will need to be trusted. Alternatively hit on Induced IRC and access from there.

Bob was in trouble. He forgot his wedding anniversary. His wife was really pissed.

She told him “Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds AND IT BETTER BE THERE !!”

The next morning he got up early and left for work. When his wife woke up, she looked out the window and sure enough there was a box gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway.

Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway, brought the box back in the house.

She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.

Bob has been missing since Friday.

So I entered very quickly indeed and was the first entry. Low and behold I managed to hold the competition off due to the jokes wide appeal and won the 1000 credits.

Now I am pondering what I will be doing with this prize.

PS: I also sent the joke to Ferrari Dave who is running a simple contest for free Entrecard credits. Check it out at Win 500 Entrecard Credits.

The origins of the nofollow tag are steeped in the early days of blogging where spammers were common place, and spam control mechanisms were not. The nofollow thus presented the nefarious activities of the spammer resulting in a profit from the increased sales of whatever product they were pushing.

In the current day however there are multiple spam control options available to combat this disgraceful activity. In fact one is shipped with WordPress by default in akismet. They are very effective and constantly updated. They are not faultless so the blog administrator should review all comments. However, the amount of illegitimate spam is vastly reduced. As a result the nofollow tag is less a legitimate spam control mechanism.

Given the effects of the spam control mechanisms I believe that commenters should be rewarded for their commentary. So I thought I would check the WordPress Dashboard and look for a simple toggle option for enabling/disabling the tag. Unfortunately, it is not a natively user configurable option. I hope that makes it into WordPress 2.5.

As such I have over the previous few days been investigating ways to remove the nofollow tag from comments. After a brief Google search I found the dofollow plugin by Kimmo Suominen. The plugin is highly configurable, but as mentioned earlier an administrator should still check comments regularly to ensure they are relevant and are not some clever spam.

I also found a complimentary plugin called CommentLuv. This plugin will interrogate the supplied URL and if possible retrieve the commenters last blog and place a direct deep nofollow free backlink to it. In this way other blog commenters will see potentially interesting content and visit. Further, search robots will also follow the link to the post.

With these natural advantages I decided to display that SCHWOIT is a proud believer in the I Follow Movement. Again looking at the fiddyp site I found the fast friends follow fair comments post. I liked the design and so decided to integrate it with my design. It is displayed in the header floating over the Bird Of Paradise leaf.

I am a proud member of this movement and encourage all bloggers to embrace the movement.

As you can appreciate in order to make 500 credits it is 500 drops of the card. This equates to a minimum of 1 and a half days as card dropping is capped at 300 per day. Now I have found that Ferrari Dave is giving away 500 EC’s in one foul swoop at Win 500 Entrecard Credits with a very simple competition. This is invaluable for anyone starting up as credits means traffic. If you can manage to capture some of that traffic then that will turn into readership, and if you monetize, will turn into cash.

As my blog is still developing I am keen to grab the 500 EC’s, so expect some hefty but friendly competition.