Fun with Facebook Fan Page Creation

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Dave

Having stopped by a few blogging forums for advice on best practices, I noticed many people mentioning Facebook Fan Pages as a good way to go as far as encouraging traffic to check out your blog, so this weekend I set out to create a few for my sites.

The first fan page you make, apparently, can be created complete with a custom URL without needing to gather up a fan base first (you have to like it yourself to get it up and running though), but I found when I created the next two pages for Mindbla here and my pictures blog lulzJapan, I was unable to get an official “vanity” URL unless I had “more fans”. What I didn’t realize at that point was that the official fan count for creating more than one fan page is 25 fans, so after wondering for a while why I wasn’t able to get my URL when I had a handful of *likes* I delved a little deeper and discovered that particular requirement.

I must add here that Facebook doesn’t put all the info out there in an easy to find place (like perhaps on the page where you’re supposed to click to get your URL, for example), they seem to like making people hunt around for it, or perhaps they just don’t want us to know what the requirements are, in order to keep people guessing perhaps and, I suppose, keep them more busy and active on Facebook. Crafty folks, those Facebookers. In addition, I was also disappointed to learn that there no longer seems to be a way to include an RSS feed on the pages in order to keep them updated automatically, apparently the only way to update them with current blog postings is to do so manually upon each blog update. I’m not sure why they’re against having an easy way to keep your fan pages updated, but in any case I guess there’s no way around it at present. Perhaps if Facebook receives enough complaints about it they’ll switch back, I did notice quite a lot of people complaining about it while I was searching (to no avail) for a way to set up some sort of an update feed.

So anyway, armed with all this new information, I gathered together the forces of my personal Facebook page, and within 24 hours or so I had my legions of fans onboard and was able to snatch up the official URL’s for all three pages. If you’d care to, please feel free to check them out and join the party by liking one or all of my brand new Facebook fan pages!

http://www.facebook.com/mindbla

http://www.facebook.com/lulzJapan

http://www.facebook.com/UpbeatRhythms

Thank you for reading this latest update on Facebook Fan Page Shenanigans and, as always, thank you for checking out the Mindbla blog, talk to you soon in the next installment.

I Squidoo, do you Squidoo too?

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Dave

Here on the Mindbla blog we’ve discussed Twitter and assorted Tweet-related sites, what Tumblr is all about (hint – think Facebook for the Younger Generation) and all of its glorious insanity and peculiarity, then there are the giants like Facebook and Google Plus that occupy so many peoples time and attention including ours, along with all kinds of other new and interesting (and confusing!) social media websites available for our enjoyment these days. Today I’d like to talk about another interesting, though quite puzzling, social media site out there which is another quasi-blogging platform with some mildly interesting twists. It is known, strangely, as Squidoo.

On Squidoo you create mini-blogs, known as lenses, where you write posts, add links, upload pictures, and do all kinds of other stuff that you might do on a regular blog like Mindbla here, but the twist is you publish this lens as a sort of stand-alone site (although you can link them up as well), and it gets ranked and people can search for it and you can actually make money from the ads there. A very nice feature is you can opt in for donating your money to charity rather than simply collect it yourself, which can be nice if you’re not making much and would rather simply donate it to various charities. In fact, that seem to encourage that, since it’s the first option in the setup, and actually getting the money is further down on the list.

There are some other fairly amusing twists, such as receiving points for your various activities such as creating lenses and liking and commenting on other people’s lenses and a bunch of other stuff. It seems as though you are able to get points for pretty much anything you do, so it can be rather addicting and fun to see what earns you points next. On the other hand, it’s really tough to see the relative value in gaining all these points, you unlock some mildly interesting new features that don’t seem particularly special and aren’t anything to write home about, but I suppose that’s all part of the game to keep the people all engaged-like and happy. Welcome to Web 2.0 style, right? There are also some feature known as a ‘quest’ which I gather is just a way to encourage people to create lenses of one particular type or another, or read other people’s lenses, and other money-see monkey-do type stuff like that. Seems more trouble than it’s worth but then again I haven’t really been using Squidoo for all that long yet, maybe it’ll grow on me over time.

Thanks for reading!

The Upbeat Rhythms Project – A Mammoth Endeavor

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Dave

I probably should’ve realized at the outset that trying to juggle three completely different blogs would be time consuming, hectic even, but in terms of what’s on my mind these days and what’m interested in trying to accomplish online there just happened to be three pretty diverse categories that I wanted to try and sink my teeth into.

You’re reading the first part right here, my “regular” blog, the place where I talk about what’s on my mind and try and come up with some cool general interest topics and focus on some of my writing, hobbies, and other interests. The second one was really born of the first, back when I was just doing a free blogger blog I put up some pictures and BOOM! suddenly my page views went through the roof (relatively speaking, of course). I realized right there and then that a picture blog could be something that could merit a page of its’ own, and so I created lulzJapan, which has thus far been my most successful effort judging by page views and the fact that even google seems to be showing it a little respect and throwing me a few bones. It is also by far the easiest to maintain, as it’s simply a lot easier to upload a picture or two, write a short bit about it, and hit “publish”, compared to blog posts which are really a lot like being in the newspaper business in terms of demand, you simply have to keep generating new material and sometimes that’s easier than other times. I can upload a picture and hit publish any old time, it takes very little effort or energy aside from the picture taking, but I enjoy it and even that doesn’t take a whole lot of time to accomplish. A few times a month is all I really need to keep the site topped off with great content, since the city of Tokyo never disappoints in that regard!

But then there’s my baby, Upbeat Rhythms, and I would’ve thought it would be pretty easy since it’s very much in my wheelhouse as a musician but it has turned into quite a project unto itself, mostly because I’ve set out to put forth a truly comprehensive set of resources for rhythm, not just drums but all kinds of rhythm for all musicians. And the fact that it needs to be comprehensive means I’ve got to exhaust all the necessary studies, patterns, styles, not to mention the fact that I have to be very careful to make sure the details are just so, since I’m claiming that it’s a true lessons & tutorials resource for musicians so I need to make certain I minimize any errors along the way. I’m sure there will be some from time to time, but I’m working to keep them at a bare minimum as much as I’m able to.

So in any case, I like what I’m doing and I’m pretty happy with how things have gone so far (though I could use more hits and more comments…come on people, share these blogs around on all the social networks, make me “Internet Famous” lol), but the rhythm site has a long way to go. It’s definitely a marathon project, unless I can significantly up my output of new content it could easily take several months for me to get to the point where I consider the site a truly comprehensive resource for people.

But that’s okay. One very cool thing that happened quite by accident is that I began writing a book, without writing a book, simply because of that website. What I mean by that is, researching SEO on videos gave me the idea to begin transcribing my videos, and once that was done I had all the material I needed to start putting together in book form (with proper edits and adjustments, of course), so that’s a happy accident that I think will be of great value to me and others in the long run. Aside from that, I’ll keep churning out the content as often as I can and we’ll see how it goes. When the book is ready, I’ll be fure to let everyone here know about it!

Thanks for reading!

Pros and Cons to including a Donate Button

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Dave

I’ve been debating whether or not to include a donate button here and on my other sites. I’ve made no secret about the fact that I wouldn’t mind making a little extra income from my blogging efforts, but for some reason this gave me pause. At first blush, it seems like an online version of panhandling to me.

But giving the matter a bit more thought, I suppose it’s more like internet busking. I mean, you’re not asking for something for nothing, you’re providing a service (in this case, news, opinion and info). So if someone wants to chip in what’s wrong with that?

Still, for some reason it makes me wonder about the whole monetizing process and whether or not that’s something I want to do or not. I don’t mind placing ads, I myself am very particular when it comes to selecting ads to click on, it has to be a website I like plus an ad that I actually find interesting, thus paying my karmic dues to both the publisher and the advertiser by not giving any false leads so to speak.

I expect the same from anyone considering checking out ads on my sites. I leave the option up to the consumer, and I’ve tried to place the ads strategically both from a marketing standpoint as well as an esthetic one.

So anyway, that’s a no-brainer as far as I’m concerned and I don’t mind making a little extra scratch from it, but I’m still reluctant for some reason to go that extra step and ask for donations directly. Maybe I shall and maybe I shan’t, but in any case it’s something I feel requires some careful consideration before deciding one way or the other.

Any advice or thoughts would be, as always, greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Do You Make These Six Common Blogging Mistakes?

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Dave

Ever had one of those days?

Damned Computers! I seem to be having several in a row. I’m getting to the point now that I almost regret ever signing up for a web hosting plan, given the fact that I seem to be spending more time fixing, maintaining, or re-installing websites and sections than I do with any sort of writing or content driven tasks of any sort, which didn’t seem to be such a problem when I was just doing the “amateur” blogging thing over on the google blogs. Plus, I seem to have generated a lot more interest over there than here or in any of my other blogs, I think I sort of took my momentum and chucked it out the window by signing up for the WordPress world and splitting my time and energy into three different directions at once. So far, I seem to be either paralyzed trying to figure out what to do next, or else going nowhere fast by fixing one thing on one site only to have some different problem show up somewhere else. A lot of two steps forward, three steps back in other words.

It certainly has sucked some of the fun out of doing internet stuff, something I never seemed to have a problem with in the past. Or perhaps it’s just growing pains of a sort.

As for the headline of today’s post, here are some common mistakes, or perhaps some not so common (?), that I seem to have made in the past few weeks. Ever had this happen to you?

Delving into the “guts” of your blog, the editor section in the case of WordPress, and screwing up the works badly enough that completely re-installing the whole bloody thing seems easier than trying to repair the damage? Check.
Deciding to restore a backup of one of your sites, only to accidentally restore the wrong site, thereby losing a weeks worth of content? Check.
Taking the time and effort to link your blog up using the social networks only to realize that the only visits you actually received for your efforts were your own clicks when you were checking to make sure the links worked right? Check.
Working yourself up into a frenzy because the Google Webmaster tools were telling you you were getting zero traffic only to realize that you hadn’t set it up properly in the first place? Check.
Trying to strike up a conversation about blogging over on some other blogs, only to realize that you’ve replied to a post or a comment that is over a year old? Check.
Getting in deep trouble with a website master for putting your website address in your signature on their forums, which happens to be well within the written rules except that you happened to make the text bold (this was a little known rule I found on page 82, subsection 13d of that website’s rules list…oops)? Check.

On the other hand, on the bright side, however you want to put it, I can say without a doubt that I’m learning a lot. So maybe that will come in handy some day. Maybe I’ll even start a tutorial series of some sort. Something about what not to do when you’re a newbie blogger such as myself lol. And on the fun side, just as I was starting to feel more and more down I decided to write up this topic and, lo and behold I discovered a neat “full screen” feature I’d not even noticed before which makes writing up a blog post a lot more fun and enjoyable for some reason.

Neat!

Onward and upwards, and thanks for reading!

Boy does this webmastering thing take up a lot of time and effort!

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Dave

Well, I’m writing a quick blog post this evening because I’m in the midst of yet another crisis over on my other site, UpbeatRhythms.com, which I thought would be my easiest effort but has turned out instead to be far and away the most troublesome and time consuming of my three sites thus far.

I mentioned the possibility of Drupalizing the place, that sort of petered out when I realized I’d need a college education in computer science to make it work. So I decided to try and max it out wordpress-wise as much as I could. Thinking I’d be all smart about it, I changed my settings around to allow multi-user, multi-blogging, though I have neither multiple users nor the need for multiple blogs. It was just the easiest way, I thought, to allow myself the flexibility to change around the page themes throughout the site.

Hasn’t worked out as planned. I’m getting error messages and it seems unable to accept files or “write” whatever it needs to. Tried to head it off at the pass by directly FTPing my files (any bloggers reading this can understand and sympathize with my plight, I’m sure), and it seems as though my folders are claiming that I’m storing hundreds of gigabites of crap when I know full well all I have is a couple dozen low resolution images in there.

I guess my next step will be to contact the host, again, although I’m not really in the mood and I’m starting to feel like a real moron for not being able to work this stuff out for myself. I guess I got spoiled with Apple products, there just doesn’t seem to be any of these kinds of issues but going to the server and the host and all that is bringing up all kinds of windows nightmares form my former life as a PC user. I am SO glad I gave that all up, now they just have to invent internet hosting the Apple way, somehow.

Or else maybe I’m just a complete idiot. Sure feels that way.

Back to the drawing board. Again.

Either I need to win the lottery, or figure out programming for myself

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Dave

Coping with Drupal

Having only been at this whole blogger/webmster thing for a few weeks, I’m starting to realize that what I want to do is not really within reach unless I have the cash to pay for a web designer or else figure it all out for myself.

WordPress is great for blogging, I love it. But, as far as my percussion site UpbeatRhythms.com is concerned, I want to max it out a lot more and include some cool graphics and maybe some flash and make it all cool and user friendly-like. The blog part is fine, I’ll probably keep it as is even if I change the rest of the site around. But for the main page and for the video content portions, I really want to do something more.

Unfortunately, I’m realizing the limitations of WordPress when it comes to that sort of stuff, so I’ve turned to Drupal for some ideas. Indeed it is a powerful platform, seems like you can do pretty much anything with it. However, right off the bat I’ve started getting error messages and grumpy responses from the bowels of the software whenever I try to do something as simple as set up a menu! And unlike the user friendly widgets and plugins you can find in droves for WordPress, the whole Drupal scene seems much more geared towards programmers and other people who generally speaking have more of a clue. So stupid questions are none too appreciated, and you get a lot of “read the manuel” replies when you try to ask around.

Er..I think I've got some errors to deal with here!

Heading over to the Drupal community forums, I figured maybe I could find some “for dummies” info or something. No such luck. No dummies there, quite the opposite. I have no idea if they’re nice people or whatever, I’m sure they are, but I was too intimidated to even attempt a feeble “hello” in that online mecca. Just the topic titles alone were enough to make my head spin, they might has well have been typing in Greek for all I knew. I found “Theme Development”, and figured that might work. I didn’t even end up clicking on a topic though, being far too intimidated by headings such as “in using the drupal view with attachments, how do I defer the initialization..”, and “I created a view with many fields of one node type,”. Gack!

I can appreciate why programmers make so much scratch, they deserve it!

Still, I really feel as though I want to figure it out and get to work on a more maxed out site (though with my limited skills I’m probably better off figuring out how to max out WordPress as much as I can, or else save up my pennies to shell out to a true computer guru and tell him or her what I’m looking for). If I can figure some things out, I might even consider incorporating them into the Mindbla site as well, although for a simple blog I suppose all the bells and whistles could end up detracting as easily as enhancing. I need to come up with a load of great content first, and worry about that stuff later.

Anyone who has any thoughts on Drupal or other alternatives is welcomed and encouraged to chime in, I can use all the help I can get! Or, for that matter, any advice on maxing out WordPress would be appreciated as well. That’s definitely the alternative avenue I’m seriously considering at this point, assuming I don’t suddenly figure out Drupal by osmosis or something lol.