geeky tutorials, tips, guides and reviews
I know what you are thinking. Your about to say, “Oh that Mitch guy is lying again!” but I promise you I am not. Here are my articles from this week’s Lockergnome Web Developer newsletter. Enjoy!
Know of any other Web development topics, links or questions you’d like to see me cover? Send them my way and I’ll do my best to get it done.
I have spend some time here lately trying to figure out exactly how much I write in the span of a year. If you follow any of my other projects or places that I post you probably know I do an awful lot. What is my digital footprint? Well here are some estimates by project:
Lockergnome’s Web Developers
20 Articles in a Month / 6,000 Words in a Month
I would estimate that I write around 300 words per article and I write five articles a week, so that ends up being around, well… a big number. Never realized I go on and on about Web development issues that much!
Lockergnome’s Windows Fanatics
8 Articles in a Month / 2,200 Words in a Month
Here I do 2 articles a week, with around 250 to 300 words per article. For argument’s sake, lets just call it 275. Loads of good freeware reviews there.
Mitchelaneous
20 Articles in a Month / 6,000 Words in a Month
On this fine Web site I do around 5 articles a week at around 300 words per article. Very similar with my numbers for Lockergnome’s Web Developers.
The Web Hosting Show
20 Articles in a Month / 7,000 Words in a Month
Sure, this is my podcast – but there are still a lot of show notes and posts to make. Here I would raise the average length per post to be around 350 per article with 5 posts per week for the hosting podcast.
Firefox Facts
20 Articles in a Month / 5,000 Words in a Month
This one might be a little lower than average since the posts are kind of simple and “quick tips”. At Firefox Facts I try to post 5 times a week and the word count comes in at around 250 per post.
Lunartics
4 Articles in a Month / 1,200 Words in a Month
This is the 1 place I write the least at. When doing my best, I try to have a least 1 post a week (even though I have missed the past 2 weeks because I have been so busy). That 1 post per week is around 300 words.
So what do the final numbers say about how much I go on and on about the topics I like to write about?
In 1 Month I Write 32,800 Words.
In 1 Month I Write 92 Articles or Posts.
In 1 Year I Write 393,600 Words.
In 1 Year I Write 1,104 Articles or Posts.
If the average number of words per page in a book is 250, and the average number of pages per book is 300 then the average book has 75,000 words. With that being said, I will write the equivalent of a little over 5 books (5.348 to be exact) in the span of 1 year. What is your digital footprint? How many books could you have written out of your blogging ways?
Here is a quick tip for any writers or bloggers (writers in my opinion sounds much more dignified). When you run across a story or an article that you might want to write more about later – you can create a “saved links” folder to move it into for the time being.
For example, lets say you see this post here come across your feed reader of choice. Now instead of trying to remember the link, or saving it to one of the many social bookmarking services out there – you could have me saved right to your bookmark bar.
The good thing about this is that it is just one click away to get rid of it when you don’t need it anymore. Just hit the old right click – then delete bookmark and you are done.
Let me know if you would like to see more of these quick tips and I’d be more than happy to share how I do things here in the content creation department.
After writing “Time to Cleanup Your Web Site” for Lunartics the other day, I noticed a link back coming from a fellow that had this to say.
Mitch at Lunartics asks “How do you keep your site content fresh and manageable?” My answer to that question is “You don’t!” In the ideal situation, your community will do this for you. They’ll post new articles (which may require your editing/approval), submit tips for blog entries, start interesting discussions on your forums, dig up coupons and deals to share with your other readers, etc.
The Social Bubble Web 2.0 Crowd
I don’t think that should always be the case though. There are situations where a public or social driven Web site is good. Just look at Digg.com. The only problem is Digg is only good if you don’t bother to read the comments.
Once you get into reading all the Digg comments on a story you feel like you are back in junior high school.
“This so blowz!”
“I Love ‘em my Ubuntu!”
“This story is so a dupe of one like I posted…”
It ain’t exactly Shakespeare folks! Not all of them are bad, but after reading a few comments down from just about any story I always feel just a little stupider inside.
The Mindtank of Multiple Folks Blogging (or Group Blogs)
Another section of the content culture I have to say I do like is the group blogs like Lifehacker and the many Lockergnome blogs. Although Lockergnome seems to be more watered down these days – I think it still belongs in the worthy mentions camp.
The One Man Showcase
I think there is still a place though for a one man act though. Why? You get to know the person more. It is a much more personal and enjoyable experience when you can read one really good writer in comparison with twenty five typing monkeys.
All three can be enjoyable and each have their place in the Online world. As a man who has many one man acts – I can only hope what I do does not become a lost art anytime soon. Which is your favorite?
Now running out of things to do, just running out of the energy to do them with.
I am not sure if it is because of the holidays, end of the year rush or just being a little burnt out. No matter what the reason might be, I just have not been up to writing as much as I usually do this week.
I have been taking it a little lighter in hopes that once the new year (or after Christmas rush) rolls by I will be back to my old content creating self. So if you notice a slowdown in any of my normal stomping ground – don’t be worried! I am just feeling the end of the year blues like the rest of you.
This might be a good time for me to reorganize my own way of doing things. I really need to go through my documents and find a better way of saving old articles and keeping payment records. Perhaps I should just backup and burn my docs to a DVD and start fresh on January 1st?
For any content creators in the house, how to you cope with this lack of energy to create something new? I would love to hear any suggestions from any and all who have them.
I had somebody ask me the other day for a few ideas to get them started on their new Web site. You see, they knew they wanted to create a Web site – they just did not know what it was going to be about yet. Some people might say this person just has way too much time on his or her hands. I am always happy to help folks out though, so this is what I told them.
Inspiration for new and exciting content can come from anywhere. The best advice I can give you is to find a topic that you have a passion about and start writing down ideas. If you can think of at least a dozen ideas, then you my friend have the early stages of a Web site.
You might even try mixing ideas. Maybe you like podcasting and cars, so you could start a podcast about cars. Maybe you have a love for exotic fish and you like to draw. Well, in that case you could start up a portfolio of your exotic fish drawings.
I think right now too much focus is on finding the next great thing. Web 2.0 does not rule the world and the idea that everything has to fit under that niche is just silly. Working in the Web hosting business, I talk to dozens of people a day who have Web sites about every single topic out there today.
Sure, not all of them are popular, but they are serving a purpose. They might not have a popularity level of a digg or even a Lockergnome but as long as they satisfy who they set out to please, that is OK as well.
Over the past few weeks, it really has been an hour to be a small part of the Lunarpages team.
I am really happy with the way their blog is shapping up as well. Once just a place for their “master of marketing” Amy Armitage, it is now quickly becoming one of my favorite places to read (and write!). This goes way beyond just being a blog for a Web hosting company. They are putting together one heck of a writing team – and it shows.
I have noticed more places and people mentioning how to make your blogging habits better. Sure, we all need help from time to time – but I have noticed something. I always seem to do my best writing when I toss the rules to the side, open up NoteTab Pro and just start to “go” from whatever is on my mind at the time.
Try not to get yourself too stress out over making a comment about everything. A lot of folks just want to jump on everybody’s bandwaggon and add that, “Yeah, me too!” to the conversation. I want to read something that either informs me or entertains me. Before you make that next post on your blog, ask yourself if you are doing either one of those first.
For more tips and help check out the post Chris made a few days ago about eliminating the echo chamber. He lists a lot of things even I had not though about till I read it.
Yeah, who knew I could work zombies into my writing for two days in a row?
Spell anything with your own Zombie alphabet!
Related Undead Entries:
+ Fidel Castro is a Brain Eating Zombie!
+ Mitch of the Dead
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Mitch Keeler is nothing more than your average Joe trying to leave his mark on the world though both his professional work and his online projects, articles, podcasts and more.
