Confessions of A Twentysomething (want to be) Stumble Queen
By dana | October 9, 2007
In honor of passing my 4,000th thumb this week (and Lindsay Lohan graduating from rehab), I thought it the perfect time to come clean with my fellow stumblers. These are my StumbleUpon confessions.
- If I’m a little tired and questioning giving a thumbs up, I put great weight in who’s already stumbled it instead of taking a huge amount of time to really analyze the site, author and even the post. If I’m leaning towards a thumbs up and notice that Lyndoman or Muhammad have been there, done that…you’re probably getting a thumb.
- When in a blogging/stumbling frenzy if your site looks like something that could have been on a monitor in the movie War Games or resembles something I designed on my Commodore 64, I will not read it…no matter the content’s actual quality or value…when I’m on a roll, I’m a modern, pretty site snob.
- As much as I talk a good game about wanting quality, value-packed content while stumbling, every once in awhile I fall prey to an adorable kitten, random flash game or random hysterical street sign and throw a thumb up their way
- Though most of the time if I don’t answer while my “online” button is lit, it just means I’m working or stumbling and not paying attention to my inbox, sometimes I just don’t want to talk to you.
- Even though I know it probably means very little, I would still do just about anything to be called a “Top Stumbler.”
- Although I know it does not help my stumbling experience or that of others, I very rarely thumbs down a site. As much as I’d like to hide it, I am a bit too nice with an overactive conscience and belief in karma, and I just can’t bring myself to do it most of the time
Topics: StumbleUpon | 28 Comments »
Excitement is Exhausting!
By dana | October 8, 2007
Although most people probably wouldn’t feel this way, to me my life is very exciting these days. I’m having a lot of fun and am becoming completely obsessed with the secret world of blogging. I have a steady line of design projects in different stages, so I have a pretty stable income becoming even more so.
Basically, I’m getting closer and closer to my dream of finding a smallish farm out in the country where my dogs can have free rein and my horses can be at my house…as long as there’s reliable broadband mind you And yes, I find it hard to believe that my dream is no longer living in a nice 2 bedroom in Washington Heights (see even in my dreams I’m too realistic for that Park Avenue pad with a park view) and working in Midtown within spitting distance of the tents in Bryant Park and awesome knock-off bags in the hidden basement rooms on Canal St.(that people in Kansas truly believe are real…my apologies to Coach and Louis executives!) …but priorities change.
I think this weekend I finally reached that point that those bloggers who have been at this awhile promise will come for all of us. I was just completely burned out! Luckily, it only lasted a day, and as one of the aforementioned horses had a move to make, I had an excuse to stay away from the computer for a bit while dealing with horses, trailers and plenty of carrots!
I read a lot of posts from bloggers all over that discuss why they haven’t been posting as regularly as usual and about writer’s block, etc. This isn’t really one of those. Nope, for once, I’m looking at the glass as half-full!
The power of a 12-24 hour complete break from all things online is truly amazing!
I feel refreshed, excited and once again well-rested. I’m working on a bunch of new posts and am once again feeling the adrenaline rush of the Publish button. It seems that when it comes to time off to regroup…less is more! Plus, my KU Jayhawks taking down K-State in Manhattan for the first time since 1989 probably helped a bit too!
Now if I could only find a few more hours a day to keep up with my blog reading, that would be awesome!
So to end this no reason for posting post…I give you my favorite bloggy moment of this evening.
Aaron from AjaxNinja asked me to check out one his latest posts…the Instant Web 2.0 Business Plan Generator. If you’re bored or have a few seconds, I highly encourage you to go check it out. Here’s the info. for my next start-up:
My web 2.0 startup, Danatay, is a product built around a social network coded using PHP and the latest AJAX technology. Danatay is designed to have users submit their RSS Feeds, and photos onto our site via a Flash/AJAX interface; other users will then use social bookmarking, blogs, and friending on the user-submitted content to synergize our customers’ pet medicines. How are we going to earn money, you ask? Simple. We will determine monetization after the VC money dries up, which has proven to be a very effective monetization model for Web 2.0. Ask Mike Arrington.
If you to are interested in using user-submitted content to synergize our customers’ pet medicines…contact me today! Thanks for the laugh Aaron
Topics: Just for Fun, Blogging | 7 Comments »
NYC Search Marketers’ Party During SMX to Beat Lymphoma
By dana | October 7, 2007
This is my first “meme.” I’ve never been too sure about them in general. But as I’ve been tagged for a very worthy one by a great new blogging friend, I thought this one was necessary. I don’t think I could do his post justice by adding too much of my own rhetoric, but this is a subject that is near and dear to my heart, as I’m sure it has affected all of us in one way or another.
So I give you the following excerpt from Marty at AimClear announcing a great event and sharing a bit of his story:
2 years ago I had one hell of a fight on my hands. 7 months of intensive chemo, 3 weeks of radiation, and 18 months later I remain in “first partial remission” with a good prognosis for long term survival. I’m one of the lucky ones. Please help publicize this event by attending, donating, or passing along meme link love. THANK YOU!
NYC Search Marketers’ Party During SMX to Beat Lymphoma
It’s not often I have a legitimate reason to talk about cancer survival in our search marketing blog. However, Next week Internet Marketers of New York (IMNY) is sponsoring a charity event to benefit The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The bash is sponsored by Best of The Web and SMX Social Media attendees have specifically been invited. Since aimClear will be covering SMX Social Media, I’ve changed my flight reservations in order to attend. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, sponsors of Light the Night, was a critical informational resource and support structure for me and my family. Now it’s time to give back.Link Love is as Good as Money! Please Circulate the Event URL by linking to http://www.im-ny.org/events.html and tag 3 other bloggers with outbound links.
He’s asked that we pass along the message, so I wanted to do my part. So here goes: YC, Kate, Maura and Edward.
Topics: Search | 5 Comments »
All questions are stupid
By dana | October 7, 2007
Well at least, all questions seem stupid to someone. As I’ve been venturing further and further into the blogosphere and social-land, I find myself searching and searching for answers to what I’m sure a lot of people would consider stupid questions. I have wasted hour after hour searching for answers in order to avoid actually asking a real person my stupid question and embarrassing myself!
As my life is quickly being completely taken over by my new blogging, stumbling and sphinning addictions, I’m finding myself struggling to explain my new world to my family and friends who mostly live offline.
So in an effort to find the simplest answers for them and also to help my fellow new bloggers find answers more quickly, I’ve decided to cop to my lack of knowledge and address the basics for my loved ones too!
I’m open to trying to answer or at least search for an answer to any questions anyone has no matter how basic they might seem. I’d encourage anyone to feel free to submit questions by leaving a comment on this post or using the contact form. If you ask to remain anonymous, I’m more than happy to oblige. On the other hand, if you want to take credit for your awesome questions, I will include your identity and a link back to your blog…your choice!
All questions might be stupid to someone, but all questioners deserve an answer whenever possible!
My goal is to answer as best I can and search for the best, easiest to understand answers that I’m sure are out there on other blogs. I have never been stingy in giving credit where credit is due, so if you see a question that you think you have answered previously in a post…let me know so I can include that in the answer!
Also, I know I’m not the only one out there who struggles from time to time with coming up with something to blog about, so my hope is that when any of you, my loyal blog buddies, hit a creative wall or are simply inspired by a question, you can answer via a post on your own blog. Trackback to the original question to let me know, and I’ll point people in your direction via a link in the answer post.
I’m starting a new Questions & Answers Category for all of these posts, so you will be able to find them there. I’m really hoping to build a great resource for new bloggers and their friends and families!
So let’s do this…our first questions for this week are:
What is a blog?
Why 
do people blog?
Remember people, we’re looking for simple, basic answers that our grandparents and/or children could find useful! Think Sesame Street simple! I’m really hoping to get answers from a lot of you. I think it will be interesting to see different people’s takes on the basics!
Finally, I’d be remiss in not giving full disclosure of my inspiration for the Q&A’s. In addition to my mom, brother, grandpa, best friends and all the other people in my life, I have to give some credit to Rose my PPC guru from PPC Think for really making me think about the need for covering the basics.
Topics: Questions & Answers, Blogging | 14 Comments »
34 StumbleUpon Posts That Aren’t Crap
By dana | October 4, 2007
As you all know, I have a pretty bad StumbleUpon addiction. So naturally, I’m always interested in reading what others are saying about my buddy SU.
It’s no big secret that one of the best ways to grab a nice surge of SU traffic is to write a post about StumbleUpon or Stumblers. I can’t really denounce anyone for doing so (pot, kettle; kettle, pot), but I have started to get a little frustrated when wading through the vast ocean of Stumbly posts to find anything that has some value or gives some original SU insight, theories, tips or funnies.
It can literally take days to go through all the posts tagged StumbleUpon or search in any other manner. And forget stumbling “sites about StumbleUpon,” trust me you don’t want to go there
So for my fellow stumble junkies and even more so for all of you who have commented or contacted me about getting started with StumbleUpon, I thought I’d throw you a bone with the following 33 posts about StumbleUpon that are, in my opinion, not crap. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: StumbleUpon | 47 Comments »
Analyze This
By dana | October 2, 2007
There are literally thousands of intelligent, thoughtful posts and resources out there to aid new bloggers in writing better headlines, producing better posts, getting more comments, increasing traffic, gaining more subscribers, pretty much gaining eternal blog salvation and happiness!
As a new blogger, it can be a bit overwhelming. A person can only take in so much information at a time. I’ve spent hundreds of hours reading, taking notes and bookmarking awesome articles and posts from every corner of the blogosphere.
One topic I haven’t seen discussed too often is one that we all, hopefully, already have in our arsenal.
Common Sense
While to become truly successful, it’s imperative to learn the tips, tricks and culture of blogging. There is one thing that I know I’ve often overlooked that could have been implemented from day one.
Read your posts. Don’t just check for spelling and grammar(though please do that too), really analyze what you’re putting out there.
Read your work as if you weren’t the author. Rather, look at your post as if you’d just happened upon it on someone else’s blog. Then ask yourself a few simple questions:
- Would I stop and read this post based on the way it looks and/or the headline?
- Would I continue reading once I got past the first few sentences?
- Is this the kind of post that would make me want to subscribe to the author’s RSS feed?
- Would I take the time to comment on this blog? If not, why? Is it not thoughtful enough? Is it written in a manner that dismisses the reader or intimidates them to a degree that they are left feeling unworthy or unprepared to enter the discussion?
- Is this post worthy of me taking the extra effort to Stumble, Sphinn, Digg or otherwise bookmark it?
A little extra time and honest self-analysis can really benefit your blog!
Topics: Writing, Blogging | 10 Comments »
A Dizzying 2 Weeks of Stumbling and Sphinning
By dana | October 1, 2007
DanaWallert.com is officially two weeks old today. I debated posting stats again so soon. But because I’ve seen so much buzz around about whether StumbleUpon can bring traffic and whether that traffic is worthwhile, I thought it was only right to stand up for my SU and share a Sphinnowledge as well.
I’m just going to put the numbers out there and say that over 70% off this traffic has been from StumbleUpon.
Topics: Sphinn, StumbleUpon, Social Media, Blogging | 11 Comments »
Experts, Gurus and Masters, oh my!
By dana | September 30, 2007
What is an expert?
Here’s the thing. If you’re talking about an expert brain surgeon or a master acrobatic pilot, I would definitely want to know they have been granted such status because of their extensive education, training and experience.
But when it comes to the ever evolving online worlds of marketing, blogging and social media, expert is not an easy term to define. Of course, there are the “big guys(and gals)” who are held up by everyone as the gurus and masters, as well they should be…most of the time
To me, the people who know more than I do on a certain subject and are willing to share some of that knowledge are my gurus, experts and masters. I am lucky to be able to interact with these gurus on a daily basis.
There is an overabundance of people recognized as experts, gurus and masters by some organization, other people or even themselves. Remember to choose your experts carefully. After all, there’s always that rogue “1 out of 10″ expert who doesn’t think you should floss , doesn’t think global warming exists, etc.
Who do you are your experts, gurus or masters? What criteria do you use to determine who is or isn’t?
Topics: Random Thoughts | 5 Comments »
Top these…
By dana | September 29, 2007
Things have been a little crazy the last few days. So by the time I finished today’s post and a few design projects that had to be done this week, I finally took a little time to peruse the 500+ new posts in my Bloglines reader.
So I give you a few posts that stood out enough in one way or another to force my blurry brain to immediately read, watch, comment and/or stumble:
Tinu nevers fails to catch us all a little off guard with her awesomely tempting headlines. So of course, I had to stop and read Should I Have Kept It My Dirty Little Secret? If you’ve ever considered using Facebook for marketing purposes or are just looking to justify the ridiculous amount of time you waste over there, take advantage of Tinu’s lack of discretion and check it out
If you’re feeling a little too good about yourself and your blog, I challenge you to check out Lyndon’s “Blogging Is Dumb, Stupid and Successful” and honestly analyze your own efforts (although linky posts such as this one would probably fit nicely into the lazy category)!
If you’re still feeling bulletproof or if you skipped my challenge altogether and are up for some real self(blog)-analysis, check out Matt Keegan’s “Your Blog Has Died and I Really Miss It.” He gives 6 signs that your blog is doomed or at least 6 reasons your blog is dead to him.
So by now you’ve either ignored all my recommendations above out of fear or you didn’t and you could use a good chuckle in the face of your stupidity and the death of your blog, I give the award of most plugged into my strange mind to Susan Suarez, obviously a fellow child of the 80’s and lover of bad films for putting up a short clip from the highly underrated film Teen Witch. If witches, crazy families and 80’s outcasts aren’t your thing, she does have all sorts of amusing things up today, so I’d still recommend stopping by
Topics: Just for Fun, Blogging | 4 Comments »
Bloggers are people too…aren’t we?
By dana | September 28, 2007
Marty Weintraub recently took us all to charm school in a brilliantly straightforward post on the enduring power of good manners. He describes the power of simple acts of gratitude and respect to your online peers.
It’s astounding how social media vernacular is sometimes nearly devoid of traditional niceties like “please”, “congratulations”, and “thank you” in typical conversational syntax. Basic stuff our grandmothers taught us somehow seems unnecessary to many.
Reading Marty’s post made me think a lot about a strange dichotomy that seems to exist in a lot of us who live a large part of our lives online. Are we the same people in online interactions that we are in offline meetings with colleagues or even while interacting with friends or acquaintances in social situations? Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Social Media, Blogging | 14 Comments »