Why I Started Blogging

Recently, my friend and local blogging entrepreneur Wade Kwon here in Birmingham, asked me and other local bloggers to chronicle why I started this whole blogging thing in the first place. So... let me tell you a little about the history of The Horse...You may wanna make yourself comfortable.

The History of The Horse

So, I started The Horse waaaaay back in 2005 on Blogspot (now Blogger) right after Google had purchased Blogspot and were introducing some new features like, mobile uploads via SMS/MMS and email. I found out that my new Samsung phone could send pictures directly to Blogspot, So I decide to try "mobloging" with my cell phone. The first picture I uploaded was a picture of my little palm tree that I kept on my front porch. I had kept it alive for over 3 years so, I was kind of proud of it.

I remember sending that first cell phone picture. Right after I sent it, I ran into my computer room and loaded up "Josh's Cell Phone Blog" and THERE IT WAS! My plant was on the Internet! I was so excited! I showed everyone I could. After that, you couldn't stop me. The next few years I kept "Josh's Cell Phone Blog" as a personal journal and moblog of my life. I uploaded more cell phone pictures and wrote a paragraph or two every once in a while about what was going on in my life. One particular era that I'm glad I blogged about was the job I got on the Wil Ferrel movie Talladega Nights. I shot as many cell phone pics as I could without getting in trouble with the director and actually blogged regularly during that time. Over time my blogging skillz evolved, (kind of like my nun chuck skills) and late last year (2008) I decided to start blogging seriously. I read all I could about professional blogging, studied SEO, keywords, copy writing and marketing and started up two more blogs where I could share some of my "expertise" about the random things that I have learned over the years (like Wedding Photography, writing, and computer/geek/nerd stuff). I converted a few posts I had done on The Horse about photography to my new blog The Wedding PhotogBlog, specializing in the wedding side of photography. Around that time I also converted Josh's Cell Phone Blog into what you see now as The Horse, a blog about technology, geek and nerd stuff. My most recent venture into online affiliate marketing was to start up a blog specifically to route traffic and business to my affliate, thereby making me money as a middle man. As of the time of this posting, I'm putting the final touches on it and I will be announcing it soon via all of my social networks and blogs.

But why do you blog Josh?
Seems like kind of a waste of time. I guess it boils down to a few reasons for me:

1. Monitization - This economy has everyone worried. I needed a backup job, just in case I lose my primary source of income. Blogging can bring in a small profit if done professionally, you know what you're doing and you're willing to stick it out for a year or so. Google AdSense and other ad networks and affiliate programs DO work, if you are good marketer and know how to promote yourself.
2. Keep Learning - I've always been on a quest for new knowledge. I'm always reading and Googleing and Wikipediaing and writing is a great way for me to have fun learning and finding out about cool things in the world.
3. Helping Others - everyone says I'm a good teacher and that I seem to have a knack for explaining things and making things easy to understand. It gives me a certain satisfaction to know that I've helped someone learn something new that they can use to improve themselves or their business.
4. Chronicling - I also use my blogs (especially The Horse) as a personal journal or diary so I can go back and see what was really important to me at the time and see how and why I've changed. Also I in the new Internet age, I want my kids, years down the road (after we get the new holographic blog), to be able to read and see what was important to me and to know who I was and what I believed in at that point in my life.

Why do you blog? Do you want to learn how to blog? Check out the Birmingham Blogging Academy if you want to get serious or maybe just become more informed about the blogosphere.

(Photo by john_a_ward)

SEO and Blog Advertisements, Annoying or Essential?

So, I've been kind of obsessing about learning all I can about SEO (Search Engine Optimization), AdSense and web / blog advertisement companies lately. I've found some great ones and some not so great ones and I've been playing around with ad placement, size and color to see what works best for me.


(Jeremy Schoemaker of Shoemoney.com, an ultra successful SEO marketing guru and his little AdSense check back in 2005)

I know some of your may find ads annoying, but they are an essential tool for any working blogger or webmaster to have in their toolbox. They allow us to continue to provide you with great content that you can use and relate to and helps compensate us financially for the money and time we put into creating our blogs / websites in order to keep our readers up to date with new and interesting content. And that's all I'm going to say about that (before I wander too close to the Google AdSense TOS electric fence ;-)...

So, for all you webmasters, if you are not using an advertisement network on your self hosted website / blog or Blogger blog you should definitely check it out. I think the best thing that implementing an ad network does for bloggers is motivate them to pump out good content and think about keywords (writing interesting / popular articles about topics that they love).

Here are some great ad networks to start you out:

• Google AdSense / Adwords: By far the most popular and most widely used, Google pretty much started the modern ad network and is still the biggest player today. If you've got subscribers, you WILL make some money... and another bonus is the amazing integrated Google Analytics that tells you everything about your website.
  
• AdBrite: Smaller network but high payoffs so far for me. I've been seeing some encouraging numbers from AdBrite lately
• Netklix: They claim to have ads on sites like Photobucket and Drudge Report. I just started with these guys this week so we'll see how they are. I'll report back later.
• WidgetBucks / Yieldsense: This looks like a great affiliate style ad network. (I haven't tried it yet but it might be next and definitely in my new blog.)
• Infolinks: An "In-Text" linking style ad network. This is one of those double underlined mini pop up bubble style ad systems. To keep your readers on your page. Paid as CPC (Cost Per Click)
• Clicksor: Both an "in-text" and full featured text and graphical banners as well as full pages and pop-unders.

So, check those out on your own time (after you get done reading The Horse... of course!) and leave me a comment if you think these suck or you find any new ones that I might be interested in.

Next time: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and why you should care...

My new Wedding Photography Blog

In the past few months I've posted a few articles about my wedding photography business (JSP) and the reaction has been pretty positive. So, I decided to create a blog devoted to the starting and day to day running of a freelance wedding photography business including:

• What gear is worth the money
• sales techniques
• what to sell to your clients (what goes over well)
• shot ideas and examples
• how to shoot engagement pictures
• what I learned the hard way (so you don't have to...)
  

The blog is called The Wedding PhotogBlog.

Basically, you get to follow me around as I start up my business, and we can all figure out how to do it together. I've got about a year head start, but that doesn't mean I know it all and I'm not learning anymore. I learn new things every time I get a wedding gig and each shoot I do.

So, if you are interested in wedding photography, or you're a beginner, want to start your business or have been around the block a few times, please come check it out and leave me a comment! In the mean time I'll be posting all wedding photography related articles over there from now on. I'll still be posting pics and talking about regular photography and gear and geek stuff here on The Horse as well as your normally scheduled program, but I just thought I would let you guys know about my new project from... The Horse's mouth.
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New Short Story Blog from Josh. Your new Soap Opera on the web.

I just started my new short story writing blog on WordPress. com called Storycrafter. Its a little experiment I’m doing to get my creative writing juices flowing again.

The other day I started this blog so that I could write a few short stories of mine chapter by chapter and my readers could follow along, soap opera style as I write more each day. I have a poll where I am taking suggestions of what to write about. All of the choices are ideas that have interested me recently, so I just need to pick one and start doing it. Help me out peeps!

Storycrafter - http://joshself. wordpress. com/

The Terminal getting a facelift?

Birmingham's own The Terminal blog hosted a meet-up today at O'kafé Coffee in Pepper place from 10am - 2pm to discuss changes, improvements, and brainstorm new ideas for Birmingham's most popular independent local blog. According to bhamterminal.com:

The Terminal is a web publication that focuses on Birmingham, Alabama and the surrounding region. We get our name and identity from the old Birmingham Terminal Station . In its heyday the station was arguably one of the major social hubs for Birmingham while serving as a link to the outside world and information.

This site serves as a source of information for and about Birmingham, Alabama and provides a link into the world of the Magic City not just for those currently living in the region, but for those that have moved elsewhere or those considering relocating here. The Terminal hopes to make you think more about issues that are affecting the region and know more about what’s going on.

In attendance were: Andre Natta (Editor in-Chief / Managing Editor of The Terminal and local social media guru), Courtney Echols (creator and editor of UrbanUpscale blog) and Josh Self (of Suction Horse Productions and creator and editor of The Horse blog).

Some of the topics included:

(edited for secrecy ;-)

Natta said that he would like to make some changes to the blog before the end of December and had a goal of implementing some more important improvements by March with a goal of advertising and attracting more readers by then. He also expressed a need for volunteer help in any area of interest for the blog including contributing articles, advertisement, networking and PR work for the blog to increase readers and expose Birmingham to the existance of The Terminal.

To volunteer or inquire about a media internship with The Terminal, contact Andre Natta.

Blogger on Ice - washingtonpost.com

This is a broad human rights violation... Please read this and visit the site. This is one of the freedoms that we in America enjoy, yet take for granted; The freedom of speech. In most other countries this is what happens when you dare to voice your opinion....

Blogger on Ice - washingtonpost.com:

"Blogger on Ice
Once again Egypt's Hosni Mubarak shows zero tolerance for a secular democratic dissenter.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007; Page A18

THE BUSH administration has tolerated Egypt's brutal crackdown on domestic dissent and the broader reversal of its democratic spring of 2005 in part because President Hosni Mubarak argues that his adversaries are dangerous Islamic extremists. It's true that the largest opposition movement in Egypt is the Muslim Brotherhood; how dangerous it is can be debated. But what is overlooked is that Mr. Mubarak reserves his most relentless repression not for the Islamists -- who hold a fifth of the seats in parliament -- but for the secular democrats who fight for free elections, a free press, rights for women and religious tolerance.

The latest case in point is a blogger named Abdel Kareem Nabil Soliman, who was sentenced to four years in prison last week on charges of religious incitement, disrupting public order and 'insulting the president.' A brave and provocative 22-year-old student, Mr. Soliman first achieved notice with postings that denounced riots in Alexandria directed at Egypt's Christian Copt minority. He said the brutality he witnessed was the result of extremist Islamic teachings, in part by his own university, Al-Azhar, which he called 'the other face of al-Qaeda.' He compared the prophet Muhammad to Israel's Ariel Sharon. And he said Mr. Mubarak was a 'symbol of tyranny.'"

Emily's blog on writing

My friend Emily wrote this little blog about her writing last night. I thought it was good enough to share with anyone into the arts, entertainment and writing. Great advice!

ars faux-etica Current mood: frustrated I.this is what i just hate seeing in my department: people trying to justify their depth through vague references and carbon copy poetry. your literary worth is not measured through how many contests you win. you're always learning, so always be willing to learn. listen to what everyone has to say, even if it isn't helpful. you'll still learn from it. just don't be everyone at once, don't be your friends, don't be someone else's siamese twin. people shouldn't be saying you're the same person as someone else, or that your writing is just like so-and-so's. it disgusts everyone when you obviously can't be yourself. II. READ. MORE. POETRY. FOR GOD'S SAKE. III.people that aren't willing to learn and change in art drive me absolutely up the wall. improve or get out. it all goes back to the mathemetician that doesn't do his problem the same way expecting different results. stop writing fanfiction; nobody respectable actually writes it. stop writing about vampires or romance novels; it's not what you're here for. if you must write about something you don't know, research the fuck out of it. there will always be someone combing over the details, willing to call you out. there will always be a grammar nazi. fucking deal with it--better your classmates than an agent or an editor who will just send your shit back with a useless rejection letter. IV. assume that nobody cares and it's your job to make them. do critique; it doesn't matter how shitty yours went. in addition, read every critique sheet, even though you know the person has nothing helpful to say. maybe you'll be surprised, or completely disappointed. you're not in a classroom of scholars; deal. yes you'll have to do a ton of stupid exercises. just do them. just read everything given to you. just keep it all, put it in a notebook. later when you're a senior you'll wish you still had all those handouts; you'll want to go back to all the basics you skipped over and refresh your memory. V. burnout is just a lie. you either have what it takes or you don't. VI. i'll be writing for the rest of my life, regardless of what happened in high school.i enjoy every fucking second of it. From: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=2717762&blogID=235496417&indicate=1