Many of you may have noticed Patricia @ Subjective Soup logo that was on my sidebar. Patricia also has a blog called Communication Exchange. Sunday, April 26th we held a blogger meet-up in Aurora. For photos, be sure to check out my other blog, Lola's Diner and Patrica's site, Communication Exchange.
I think we all had a really good time. I can truly only speak for myself and I can say that I had a great time and I can't wait to get together again. Is next weekend too soon? It was so much fun hearing how my fellow bloggers came up with their blog names and about some of the things they blog about. We also talked about quite a few different topics within blogging.
Here are just a few of the topics covered:
We commiserated about how our families feel about our blogging habits. I don't think I'm alone when I say that some of our family members feel we are addicted. There are a whole lotta worse things to be addicted to. Gambling, Heroin, crack, porn, Manolo blahniks, Converse.
(these are "Grateful Dead" Converse. My nod to Cardiogirl who, can I say it?, is addicted to Converse.) Ok, an addiction to Converse isn't that bad, in fact since googling the site, I am now jonesing for a pair of these Grateful Dead Converse. I am currently humming "The Girl From Ipanema" as the site suggested, while I wait to see what patterns they have in my size. No, I'm not joking, here is a screenshot:
We talked about the debacles that are currently Entrecard and Today.com. The consensus was pretty much that we all hope they are able to manage their current difficulties, deal with blogger concerns and provide the good experiences that bloggers have been accustomed to.
We talked about paid ads and how it can be quite hilarious when some bloggers whose first language is not english write about products that they don't exactly grasp the concept of what they are used for, or make up elaborate stories about how they found a need for said product.
We talked about stats. My post on google page rank came up. If you haven't checked your google page rank, check out my post Google Page Rank Happy Dance to find out how. (You can also spy your bloggy friend's rank by typing in their blog url.)
We talked about keywords. Keywords are the searchable "labels" you put in "Labels for this post:" box in your blog post. (At least that's the way it works in Blogger, Wordpress may call it something different.) Keywords help other people going on google and yahoo do searches.
We talked about Stat Counters. Stat Counters can give you all sorts of information if you are a statistic freak like me. You can find out:
Keyword Search Words - Mine for this month, so far are:
Recent Came From - Where your visitors came from, a link from another blog, typing in the url themselves or a freaky google search about my ladyparts.
Visitor Paths - This one is for stalker wannabes, if you want to know where your visitors came from. However, don't get scared, the location listed is the location of your internet service provider (ISP). In my case, I believe my location shows as Schaumburg, IL because my ISP is AT&T. Hint: You won't find me in Schaumburg.
Visit Length - This tells you how long your visitors stay on your blog. This isn't necessarily accurate, because as one of the bloggers mentioned, she does folds laundry while blogging and sometimes steps away from her computer for a considerable amount of time when a load is ready to be folded.
Exit Links and Exit Link Activity - Let you know where a blogger went after visiting your page. Here you'll find out if they clicked on something in your archives, clicked on ad, or clicked on your blogroll.
Oh, one more thing. I am hanging my head in shame and embarrassment. SUPREME embarrassment! One of the bloggers mentioned a proclivity for decorating stuffed animals in costumes/clothing, similar to build-a-bear. I thought she said squirrels, but I was wrong. Apparently it was beavers. I guess my error was a good thing because I would likely be in serious trouble with the Mrs's if I googled "beavers in costume". One can only imagine the images one would find had I googled that.
I'll be hiding in shame back in the kitchen.
Lola
©2008-2009 Firecrotch Rocket
I think we all had a really good time. I can truly only speak for myself and I can say that I had a great time and I can't wait to get together again. Is next weekend too soon? It was so much fun hearing how my fellow bloggers came up with their blog names and about some of the things they blog about. We also talked about quite a few different topics within blogging.
Here are just a few of the topics covered:
We commiserated about how our families feel about our blogging habits. I don't think I'm alone when I say that some of our family members feel we are addicted. There are a whole lotta worse things to be addicted to. Gambling, Heroin, crack, porn, Manolo blahniks, Converse.
(these are "Grateful Dead" Converse. My nod to Cardiogirl who, can I say it?, is addicted to Converse.) Ok, an addiction to Converse isn't that bad, in fact since googling the site, I am now jonesing for a pair of these Grateful Dead Converse. I am currently humming "The Girl From Ipanema" as the site suggested, while I wait to see what patterns they have in my size. No, I'm not joking, here is a screenshot:
We talked about the debacles that are currently Entrecard and Today.com. The consensus was pretty much that we all hope they are able to manage their current difficulties, deal with blogger concerns and provide the good experiences that bloggers have been accustomed to.
We talked about paid ads and how it can be quite hilarious when some bloggers whose first language is not english write about products that they don't exactly grasp the concept of what they are used for, or make up elaborate stories about how they found a need for said product.
We talked about stats. My post on google page rank came up. If you haven't checked your google page rank, check out my post Google Page Rank Happy Dance to find out how. (You can also spy your bloggy friend's rank by typing in their blog url.)
We talked about keywords. Keywords are the searchable "labels" you put in "Labels for this post:" box in your blog post. (At least that's the way it works in Blogger, Wordpress may call it something different.) Keywords help other people going on google and yahoo do searches.
We talked about Stat Counters. Stat Counters can give you all sorts of information if you are a statistic freak like me. You can find out:
Keyword Search Words - Mine for this month, so far are:
"What to give your daughter for her 16th birthday."If you want your own Stat Counter, you can click on mine and create your own.
"www.lolasdiner.blogspot.com"
"on my lady parts." (Which begs the question, who is looking up about my ladyparts on google?)
Recent Came From - Where your visitors came from, a link from another blog, typing in the url themselves or a freaky google search about my ladyparts.
Visitor Paths - This one is for stalker wannabes, if you want to know where your visitors came from. However, don't get scared, the location listed is the location of your internet service provider (ISP). In my case, I believe my location shows as Schaumburg, IL because my ISP is AT&T. Hint: You won't find me in Schaumburg.
Visit Length - This tells you how long your visitors stay on your blog. This isn't necessarily accurate, because as one of the bloggers mentioned, she does folds laundry while blogging and sometimes steps away from her computer for a considerable amount of time when a load is ready to be folded.
Exit Links and Exit Link Activity - Let you know where a blogger went after visiting your page. Here you'll find out if they clicked on something in your archives, clicked on ad, or clicked on your blogroll.
Oh, one more thing. I am hanging my head in shame and embarrassment. SUPREME embarrassment! One of the bloggers mentioned a proclivity for decorating stuffed animals in costumes/clothing, similar to build-a-bear. I thought she said squirrels, but I was wrong. Apparently it was beavers. I guess my error was a good thing because I would likely be in serious trouble with the Mrs's if I googled "beavers in costume". One can only imagine the images one would find had I googled that.
I'll be hiding in shame back in the kitchen.
Lola
©2008-2009 Firecrotch Rocket
3 comments:
Lola, this. Is. AWESOME!
Yeah, it's an addiction, what of it?! And I do love hummin' the Girl from Ipanema while I search for today's mood. Isn't that fun?
It's funny you mentioned paid ads because I was just thinking about this the other day. In the beginning, God created paid ads. Kidding, in the beginning I was jonesin' to be part of Pay Per Post and I did do a handful of posts.
But then I fell away from it and very occasionally I receive an email from Social Spark, which I delete.
My mindset changed about those paid ads and suddenly it was no longer my demand to be a part of their program.
Don't get me wrong, they ain't knockin' on my door at all. But for me it's become a fad that passed.
But I really thought, initially, I was going to make around $200 per month from writing about that stuff.
Then, like you said, I saw some of the stuff other people were churning out and it really put me off the whole thing.
Alright, enough of that. I'm glad you guys all met up and I'm glad to know you're not going to plan a Converse low top intervention.
Because if you do, I will be out of the hotel room in an instant, baby. No one is talking me down.
Wow, Lola, that was a thorough run-down of our meeting! Were you taking notes? I know! You can be the secretary!
@ Cardiogirl - I thought that maybe Converse changed their message and maybe they suggested to sing other songs from that era. Wouldn't that be cool?
I had really wanted to do the paid ad thing, because I could use the money, but when I started seeing the same ads as I dropped EC's and saw how some people came up with such nonsensical posts, I didn't feel like I could do that to my readers.
No Converse intervention. We do need to be watchful for a blogging intervention though. Lol!
@ Patricia - No notes, just an excellent memory. Excellent memory. Just don't ask me to count toothpicks though. (Rainman) I would be happy to be Secretary.
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