Blogging Simplified

In case you haven’t noticed the sweet little badge over on my right sidebar that says, ” I Love Blogtipping “, this would be a great time to click it and see where it takes you.

Today is Blogtipping Day and I intend to tip you off towards some great reads, so here we go :

First I want you to take a ride over to Out of Bounds and read one of the few purely entertaining posts that my wife has ever written. Most of the time she’s educating, enlightening and all that other good stuff, but this post about Bubba was pure Kentucky gold !

Next, how about we go over and see if Paul Chaney is ready to debut his ” Blogs For Good ” network yet. If he’s not quite ready, bookmark him and keep going back til he is.

Third, since Blogtipping normally comes in threes, is a blog done by a new blog friend, James Brausch.

James is very technical, very research oriented and produces some software that could help your blogging life. His posts that deal with website promotion and webmastering are very detailed and very educational. The only flaw he has is an ugly shirt ! Looks like a Tommy Bahama I once had. My wife probably gave it to Goodwill and James may have bought it there !

I’m betting not enough of you have subscribed to a rather new blog I read some I’m gonna drop the Link Leak Virus on him and try to entice you to click thru and learn some good blogging lessons over the next little bit.

Today this Sacramento ( CA ) based dude gave us a coding lesson and I’ve got it on good authority ( uh, he told me, that’s where ) that he’s about to bust out a bigger, badder lesson in the very near future.

Need some further enticement ?

” Cruising Technorati’s Webmaster Help section I came across their recommendation that if your blog isn’t getting indexed it might be a good idea to check that you are producing valid code ( XHTML in the case of most blogs –all blogs ? ) Anyways, being at my wit’s end for how to get back into Technorati I decided I may as well try validating my code, so I headed over to the W3C Markup Validation website and punched in my site… and I damn near had a coronary !.

Failed validation, 165 errors - This page is not Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional ! “

What’s the chances that a few of the tips this Master Tweaker has outed will make your blog a more efficient, effective, economical machine ? Probably pretty good.

We happen to use one of his templates/designs over at Office Freaks ! I’m hoping he tweaks that dude, too !

I just read, via John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing, a post at The Viral Garden about, what they called, The Top 25 Marketing blogs.

I don’t completely agree with their list, nor with the way it was compiled, but it’s a great start and I can use it to make new blog friends, learn and share a lot of content and grab some links.

Alexa is a rather odd bird and that was the first time I’d been to their website. Technorati canbe quirky, too, but if you know the right people, you can get good service.

Maybe if we used Alexa, Google, Technorati and any other service which is weighted towards my blog, to do this again. If not, I’ll just live with it and still be happy.

I did subscribe to the RSS feed while I was there and am going to give ‘em the 2 week trial to see if they stay or go. I’m betting they stay.

Click thru, read the post and let’s talk about this…er, on their blog, since they started this.

EDIT - Seems I’m not the only one who thinks Alexa data is not all it’s thought to be. The Blog Herald has a post that quotes Matt Cutts, a borned and bred Kentuckian like me, and he’s not any more enamored than I. Read it and let me know what you think.

I received a comment yesterday from an old friend who’s got a new blog. Cary Miller, who was part of the team that started Office Freaks !, who’s the man behind Church of the iPod, who does a great guitar blog and who does a helluva job as husband, friend and care-companion over at Cancer News Watch has started a new blog and here’s a snippet of what you’re gonna get by going there.

” So here I am.

I’m a leaner, faster, more productive blogging-machine these days….

So what’s this new blog all about?

carymiller.net is going to be a multi-faceted blog, and I expect to write about a vast number of topics, from blogging insights, to my constant search for inner peace, and everything in between (travel, taoism, health, blogging for money.)

In short, this is going to be my playground.

So to wrap it all up, I’d like to thank all of those who have supported Lori and I over the last year — there are far too many of you to name here — and I’d also like to ask for just one more favor… if it’s not too much.

I hope you’ll consider subscribing to my RSS feed, and perhaps — just perhaps ! — you’ll throw me a little link-love.

Love, after all, is all you need. “

Well, my man asketh and the Daddy of Link Leak, the Link Leak Virus and giver of the love says…Here’s a little love !

Back on April 10th Chris Pearson over at Pearsonified started The Indie Virus.

On April 26th, I read a post about Blog Tipping written by Liz Stauss, that gave props to a post written by Easton Ellsworth about Blog Tipping.

It harkened me back to a post I wrote 9 days before that where I called out an A-lister who would not use a link, Trackback or Ping.

On April 26th I claimed Link Leak as my own, defined Link Leak and gave full credit to the Indie Virus before me and to those who had been Blog Tipping before me. I then started the Link Leak Virus on May 4th.

During this whole time, I gave full credit where it was due. I’ve never been afraid to link out, give credit or try to help any blogger out there.

There are several out there whose blogs have been built by my staff, several who have had us troubleshoot their problems, we host a few on our own servers, we have done design and Photoshop work for several, etc. Never have we turned down anyone who needed help. I might be handcuffed after today, though, as I shook hands on a deal to be the blogger for a local company. It’s a 5 figure deal and I’ve been telling you guys to do more of this and not try to write for AdSense. Advertising and corporate dollars are WAY BIGGER !

Now to my problem. The post that precedes all of this is the one on April 17th about, ” How Much For A Link, Trackback or Ping ? ”

This post is about one particular A-Lister. He has since changed his way for the better and is now known to do a WHOLE POST about someone elses post. That is blogging like it’s supposed to be done.

Now we have another A-Lister who has followed the dark path. Darren Rowse has not participated in any of the above mentioned blogging promotion operations.

I emailed him and asked for some help with the Link Leak Virus, without a response.

I’m sure he saw The Indie Virus.

I’ll bet he saw Liz blog tipping. Maybe he saw Easton, too.

I was, repeat was, linked to ProBlogger on several of my 13 blogs. No More. I have removed them all. For now and maybe forever.

Why ?

Because today he has a cute little pink button on his post titled Link Lust. See there, I even linked to a post that made me pissed.

Why am I pissed ?

Is he not entitled to blatantly copy all of our previous hard work without even a hint of props ? Sure he is.

There are no new ideas. Just new implemetations of old ideas.

Read that again and remember it forever. Especially here in the blogosphere.

What could he have done differently ?

He could have said after reading all about our Link Leaks, Blog Tipping ( which is where he got the three links thang in his post ) and Link Leak Virus that he had decide to jump on the bandwagon and do a little himself.

But he didn’t. He was selfish. He was a link hoarder, at least for that moment.

He didn’t repay all the Trackbacks I’ve left for him. Nor the Pings. Nor the good things I’ve said, like, ” Darren Rowse and ProBlogger is one of the reasons I blog. One of the two or three most influential people I’ve read. “

He chose to shun us, to diss us and to be selfish. I’m choosing to call him out.

I don’t expect to win. I don’t expect him to reply. I fully expect all the Rowse-ettes to flame me and say I’m link baiting, a term I only learned in the last couple of days, as someone said that’s why I started the Link Leak Virus. Bull, is all I can say. I’ve gotten jack squat out of it…except for the knowledge that several bloggers have been linked to that would have never seen the light of link day before those 3 projects were implemented.

There’s only one or two good things that can come out of this.

1) Darren will say, ” I was lost, but now am found. Was blind, but now I see. ”

2) All those who hate A-Listers will jump on my bandwagon and I’ll get beaucoup links and several thousand new readers. New readers who I will entertain and educate with my witty posts and simple logic. That’s a joke, son. Props to Foghorn Leghorn.

The bad things that may happen ?

Don’t know. Don’t care. Maybe he won’t ever link to me. Hasn’t yet, so what’s the loss.

That’s what I’m talking about ! It has now started to happen and this blogger has done it like you’re supposed to do it !

Brian Clark, the Copyblogger dude, the best blogger from Texas, the blogger who wrote that dang fine report about Trading Words For Traffic, has written a post that insists that I write a whole post on it, not just a comment.

Here’s the perfect example of how to not get off your topic and still give out a lot of link leaks. He’s taken the time to find some great posts that are well within the bounds of his blogs usual topics and given his readers some other fine examples of what will help them learn even more and become even better than they would have been had he not leaked those links.

Will he lose any readers ? Of freakin’ course not. Did he suffer any pain or harm any animals in the process ? Of course not. Did he score points within the blogosphere ? You dang right !

This is how you do it. You don’t have to do it everyday. You can do it once a week. You can do one-link-a-day, within the topic you’re writing about. You can do once-a-whenever. Just do it !

BTW - if you like the image above, you can buy it and other fine art from Al Feldstein, by visiting this big ol’ link !

Aside from my recent turn towards link ho’dom, I love good coffee, hats for golfing and collecting coffee mugs for my wife.

She who must be obeyed ( David Feherty calls his daughter that ) just dropped a great post on one of our other blogs, Office Freaks !

Now back to the order of the day, which is to keep on keeping on with some Link Leak Virus doings.

First off, speaking of good coffee, I’m gonna drop off some love and a little Link Leak Virus on a great food blog. She who must have coffee also does a great food blog and has a Category just for coffee related posts. Click thru and check it out.

Time to kick this thang up a few notches. I’ve linked to a few bloggers that I was sure would jump in and help push this puppy along, but it ain’t happening, so I might as well send the Link Leak Virus out to a couple of bloggers who just might spread it and to at least one blogger that I’ll almost guarantee that you haven’t read yet.

First off, I’m gonna take the Link Leak Virus across the border to Canada’s Bad Boy of Marketing. This bloggin’ dude will be releasing a niche marketing guide any day now and he’s a very entertaining blogger, mostly because stuff just happens around him.

Next I’m gonna introduce you to someone that my server logs say has sent me 22 visitors so far this month. That’s a little over 4 per day. Not big, but I wish I had 2500 people like that linking to me !

Here’s a little quandry for you, I have no idea why he chose to link to me. He doesn’t have an email contact address on his blog or I’d ask him.

I read about 12 of his posts while ago and I’m interested in almost every piece of software he’s produced and he looks like someone with whom I’d like to do a joint venture product with. He’s smart, easy to read and extremely informative about SEO and how we can use some statistical analysis to increase our readership.

Maybe we could do a Simple Guide To Increasing Your Blog’s Readership or something. You know I like simple.

Gotta get him to fix those Permalinks though, or tell me why he’s not using the super-duper one’s most of us who think we know something use.

So head on over for another Link Leak Virus recipient and be ready to learn more in minutes than you’ve learned in the last year !

Two down and one to go…which way should I lean ? North ? Been there. Done that. East ? Not yet. West ? Maybe next week. South ! That’s the only way to take this train ! Due south to Alabama !

The next recipient of the Link Leak Virus is a partner of mine on Office Freaks ! My wife linked to his wife today while spreading the Link Leak Virus for me and I can’t let my man not get all slathered up with a little bit-o-virus !

So without further ado, let me introduce you to a fine blogger, a real strong individual, not to mention a dude that’s been there for his woman, thru thick and thin, sickness and in health and is gonna come out on top of the pile-o-life ! The Link Leak Virus is now officially on him and has spread to Alabama.

Need a primer on Link Leak ? This is a link that’ll take you to the very definition of what link leak is.

Let’s drop a few more Link Leak Virus links and see if I can gather some momentum for this thang !

I dropped 3 yesterday and I might as well drop three more this morning.

I happen to read about 100 blogs, all from being subscribed to their RSS feeds. One of the first I subscribed to was the one that has made a tremendous difference in my blogging life and one that has helped more bloggers than any other to date.

Do I expect such a well known blogger to be flattered by such a stunt as my shameless desire to create a viral link machine ? No. Do I hope to bring attention to what he’s about to do ? Yes.

Maybe, while he’s in the middle of his Blog-A-Thon, he’ll need some easy posts and he’ll drop some Link Leak Virus links out and this thing will spread like butter on a bisquit !

Also grabbing some attention this time around is a blogger that has been there and done that. Several times, under several canopies, but has now found her niche and is gathering links like The Donald grabs dollars ! Don’t believe me ? Check her Technorati stats ! About a gazillion links from a million sites ! Who wouldn’t a blogger like that helping spread the Link Leak Virus !

Last, but not least is an old blogger with a new blog. He likes golf, ePublishing and links ! He just started his new blog and it’s sure to be a hit with the business crowd. Small business. Medium sized business. Big time business. he deserves a little Link Leak Virus as much as anybody.

There’s three more, for a total of six. So far. I’m hoping for 500 to 1000 before we’re done, because I need that many links to get me to the top of my Tags in the Technorati rankings. Where I rightfully deserve to be, if I do say so myself !

In case you don’t have a clue as to what “ link leak ” is, here’s the definition of link leak.

I’ve already given myself credit for having coined the term ” link leak “. Having done so, I guess I’d better do some more and hopefully some others will do so as well and link back to my post that defines the term link leak.

Today I found a new blog via Life Hack and I’m gonna start a little Link Leak Virus.

While I’m at it, I might as well drop the Link Leak Virus on someone I KNOW will spread this dude. Or I hope he does, since I spread his Indie Virus like the wild dog of a blogger that I am.

And since all good things, except wives, come in threes, like my three daughters, I’m gonna drop one more Link Leak Virus on somebody. And since there won’t ever be three of them, I dropped it on the only wife I’ll ever have !

So there you have it. Three Link Leak Viruses have been dropped like a bad habit. Let’s see if any of them take the reins and drop three more on some unexpecting bloggers.

If you do spread this dude, please use Leak Link Virus as the anchor text, so I’ll be able to track this puppy !

I already have 3 more in mind and I might just drop the hammer about 6 AM CST tomorrow on the next batch of unsuspecting bloggers !