Postcards from the Funny Farm

Did you ever spend a weekend doing a whole lot of nothing and you felt great about it? In a sense that’s what my weekend was like. We bought a new stove for the house. We’re supposed to move in around May 15th. Other than that, I just whittled at the blog, wrote a guest blog that should be published this week and learned what “glass” effect was on Photoshop. I haven’t posted an “aside” post like this in a while but I thought I’d explain that I was doing nothing, thinking about everything, and doing stuff behind the scenes. I have 3 ideas for posts, it’s just a matter of getting the links and paragraphs in line. I thought a lot SAT-SUN. So much, I am speechless for once in my life. Funny how real quiet and thinking will do that to you. Suffice it to say, I had some deep thoughts that have done me well. Watch for a really big one in tomorrow’s column.

To close: for lack of any clever comment generating hook:

How was your weekend?

Okay so you’re in a relationship … finally. You’ve been waiting and doing the “slumming” thing as well as the blind dates and the internet flirting and a host of other dreaded things to find someone. Now, all that is in your past: you’ve found the “one.”

Those are the first few lines of my first guest post over at “It Might be Love.” It’s about the best friend of the opposite sex that won’t leave you and your new love alone! How do you get over such a wall? I share my point of view and a personal story about dating my now-wife. I was pleased how easily a post on love and relationships flowed! Thank you goes out to Chelle for the opportunity. If you’d like to read the full article, here is the url:

itmightbelove.com/2008/04/01/the-friend-of-the-opp...

My kind friend and fellow blogger JeanGrey over at Letters from the Soul has published another guest blog of mine. I wrote this one about those holiday stresses in the family when you feel like you have to drive over hill and dale to get to those sometimes not-so-thrilling get togethers. See what you think of my decision this year to stay home safe and sound with the wife and kids. How do you handle boundaries with loved ones? If you’re interested in reading my article, it is linked at the url below:

url: lettersfromthesoul.com/2008/03/22/setting-boundari...

If you are interested in having me guestblog for your blog for free, read the page explaining the process and contact me. Thanks! I hope to hear from you. Guest blogging is a fun and great way to assist bloggers in practicing writing, networking, and affiliate marketing.

The blogger from In Good Taste asked me to write a guest blog for his clean and impressive Wordpress.com blog. It was no stretch with Sarah’s help. She does a lot of recipe/nutrition type stuff on her blog. Anyway, together we made a pretty good presentation (if I do say so myself). If you are interested in reading my guest blog “recipe” there, the url is linked below:

url: ingoodtaste.wordpress.com/2008/03/25/healthy-tasty...

If you are interested in having me guestblog for your blog for free, read the page explaining the process and contact me. Thanks! I hope to hear from you. Guest blogging is a fun and great way to assist bloggers in practicing writing, networking, and affiliate marketing.

I wrote this guest post last month for Letters from the Soul but never got around to letting you know here. So here goes: JeanGrey has been very good to me letting me return to her blog post again. In fact, she’s asked me to become a regular contributor from here on out. I really appreciate that, as you know guest blogging is a very important exercise and experience for me along my blogging journey. This post is very close to my heart in that I discuss using imagery to communicate with your spouse (or other loved ones). I heavily subscribe to word pictures. If you’d like to read the guest post I wrote, it is linked at the url below:

url: lettersfromthesoul.com/2008/03 …

If you are interested in having me guestblog for your blog for free, read the page explaining the process and contact me. Thanks! I hope to hear from you. Guest blogging is a fun and great way to assist bloggers in practicing writing, networking, and affiliate marketing.

I’m off work for 10 days. Boy, I love Spring Break as a teacher. In my RnR however, I have been getting over a nasty cough. I wrote a guestblog over at the FuelmyBlog site about what I learned about generic and name-brand otc coughing drugs. If you are interested in reading it, you can get there through the url linked below:

http://blog.fuelmyblog.com/2008/03/name-brand-and-generic-coughing.html

If you are interested in having me guestblog for your blog for free, read the page explaining the process and contact me.  Thanks!  I hope to hear from you.

I seem to be guest blogging about 3-5 times a month. I wouldn’t mind doing it more. Not only do I have a hope chest full of ideas to write about for 2 lifetimes, but I am also challenging myself with each guestblog post to engage new readers and audiences. I feel this is the best way to become a better writer online. The backlink from the post also helps me increase my standing with the search engines (and the same helps the host blog as well for that matter). I have an extensive list of blogs I have written for and some of them have opened it up to a regular contributor role. I am very appreciative of those folks and you know who you are ;)

I would be honored to submit a guest blog to you. All I need is your green light. I will work hard to create a blog post that brings you traffic. All I ask in return is that you allow me to put a three line bio along with my photo in the footer of the post. Past bloggers who asked me to guest blog have told me they got new traffic from it and they were very greatful about that. You will also get a short write up on my blog about your blog and the post I have written. This will double as a permanent backlink to increase your ratings for the search engines. Interested yet? What are you waiting for?

Give me the green light through an email at: rileycentral at yahoo dot com

or you can use this fancy shmancy form below. I can’t wait to hear from you!

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I’d say there are three main types of bloggers:

1. Online Authors
2. Service/AD Promoters -and-
3. Purely Personal Bloggers

I am a mixture of 1 and 3 and I am working daily to become mostly a 1. I would say for types 2 and 3, online publishing is not really a necessary concern. But if you are trying to develop on online name as an author, then it should be a priority in your blogging week.

A commenter asked me today the following question that I am choosing to answer in this post. She wrote:

How do you go about getting published on the web? Do you approach people, or do they approach you?

Great question. The answer is: BOTH, but mostly you ask them. Lately I have been working on guest blogging on sites I respect and that I feel have a similar audience to my blog. In doing so I have the chance to attract new readers and give the host blog my traffic for the day I have the guest blog up. They get a link from my announcement of the post and I of course get a backlink from the post in the short bio credits. Guest blogging is the best way I have found to publish on the web. I recommend you frequently let your readers know you are interested in doing it and then that you approach specific bloggers through email with your proposal. If they say no, don’t be crushed. But mostly they say yes in my experience.

In addition to guest blogging, there are many web publishing blogs and ezines that will publish your writing. Two that I write for on a regular basis are:

BlogCritics -and-

Associated Content (AC)

You must apply to BlogCritics and AC approves on a post by post basis.

As I said, there are many many services and blogs you can publish online to. Have a look around the web and see what’s right for your style. In publishing your work other places than your primary blog you get your name around the web. These create backlinks to your blog thereby giving it better seo authority (ie; your posts come up higher in the searches) and advertisers see you as a better value when they consider paying you to show off their products.

The other benefit, which is to me most paramount, is it gets you more familiar with the worldwide audience that is the web. I like to get out of my blog comfort zone and challenge myself to write for new audiences. Ultimately, the “writer” type of blogger, as opposed to the commercial or strictly diarist type, should be challenging him/herself with new writing situations as this will improve her/his ability to attract and engage readers for the lifetime of their blog. (I hope mine is as long as my own lifetime ;) Actually one of my secret dreams is to make enough money through online publishing to be able to buy some Briggs and Riley fine luggage and take my wife to Ireland on a romantic vacation. Who knows, stranger things have happened right? If nothing else, whether the online publishing pays out or not, I know I’ll be a better writer and since I started, that has always been what it is all about for me.

Do you know of some other online publishing avenues out there I haven’t mentioned?

I had a guest blog published, “Increasing Traffic Through Backlinks.” It is posted at a new blog I have just discovered called simply “Make More Money Online.” Hey, I am game for that! Thanks so much to Jean Grey over there.

If you are interested in reading my guest blog, it is at the link below:

Increase Blog Traffic Through Backlinks

If you are interested in having me guestblog for your blog for free, read the page explaining the process and contact me.  Thanks!  I hope to hear from you.

My latest guest post, “Charles Schultz, Cartoons, and Goals” is now up at Dad Balance.

Here’s a quick summary:

Charles Schultz is an amazing example of how an idea as simple as a cartoon like Snoopy can start a brand and make billions of dollars.

Derek Semmler is the mastermind behind Dad Balance and I really appreciate him letting me guest post. The site’s theme is for dads but there are many women who comment there. If you have the time and interest, head over and give Dad Balance some much deserved traffic and comment count.

-Damien

If you are interested in having me guestblog for your blog for free, read the page explaining the process and contact me. Thanks! I hope to hear from you.