The Article Writer

I want to help you, but first you must help yourself

I enjoy the internet, mingling with folks who share a similar passion and who aren’t afraid to step out and try something new. Google may have messed up with PageRank, and Microsoft still has a sorry excuse of a web browser, but it is the every day people from India, Australia, Argentina, and elsewhere who truly shape the internet.

No Lone Rangers Online

With tens of millions of people online at any given moment, it is easy to feel like a speck of sand on the seashore of life. Standing out can be difficult, but social media has made it much easier for people to have a voice, to tell the world what they do and what they’re selling.

The solitary individual can make a living online, but it is those people who know that they need the help of others who make for the most successful people themselves.

A Simple Little Request

So, if you want help from others online then why aren’t you helping yourself first?

A case in point — if you use StumbleUpon, then you may not be utilizing your About page properly. Specifically, telling people about yourself is one thing, but providing a clickable URL (thanks for clarifying that point, Sandraew) to your blogs can certainly go a long way toward helping people find and stumble your pages. Why is this important? Well, if you’re like me — someone who uses StumbleUpon a lot and who likes to reward his friends — then you enjoy sending a stumble tsunami their way every now and then.

I can’t do this very easily when a person’s profile page (About) makes it difficult to find their pages. I could search around, but when I’m stumbling through scores of other sites I probably won’t spend the extra time looking for hidden pages.

Time For An Update?

If your About page doesn’t link to your blog, website or other pages of significance, then please make the change as soon as possible. By making it easy for stumblers to find your work, you’ll reap the benefits of having a profile page that is user-friendly.

I don’t know how else to say it, but I think you already have gotten the gist of my message.

The day I quit making new blogs will probably be the day when I either come into a lot of money (and decide to pursue other interests) or I will have lost my eyesight. Well, I certainly do not want to experience the latter! The former would be nice though.

Over the past two months I have launched five new blogs, three of which I created within the past two weeks. I held off mentioning anything about these blogs because they are in various stages of development.

The new blogs are:

Debt2Assets – I bought this domain on a whim and decided to develop it by gathering together select articles from discontinued Blogspot blogs of mine that were gathering dust. The theme of this particular blog is to help people go from a life of debt to financial freedom. How they get there is up to them, but getting out of debt (or having control over debt) is where this blog is at. I should have the remaining articles moved over by February 2008.

Matthew Keegan — Gee, you think I would eventually develop a site based on my name, right? While “The Article Writer” is specific to one area of my business, my namesake site (which is barely registering) will reflect my entire business, not just article writing. What you see right now is barely more than a shell, but I have plans to overhaul and expand the blog after the first of the new year.

WordJourney — I bought this May 2000 registered domain earlier this month, seizing it because the name struck me — I have wanted to run a devotional blog based on Bible scripture and my personal, but inspired commentary. For people familiar with “Your Daily Bread” they will see something similar in style, but uniquely me. I hope to be able to update the blog 3-4 times each week.

That is it for now — I may have another blog rolling out soon and then I will take a break. Yes, 1 or 2 of my 7 blogs are “flip” material, but I do not have plans to move any blogs out of my portfolio at least for a few months.

The Thanksgiving holiday was enjoyable for my family as we visited nearby friends to celebrate the day with them. The balmy weather — 78 degrees by mid-afternoon — seemed out of place, but nobody was complaining. I think mostly everyone was grateful that they didn’t have to fly or hit the road, competing with millions of other travelers in their quest to get there.

Lots of folks are off today, but I decided I would work in order to stay well ahead of several writing deadlines which are looming over the next four weeks. I did decide back in September to make Friday, December 21st my final day of work for the year. Our children finish up school on that day and our plans are to celebrate Christmas at home.  I may do a little bit of clean up stuff between Christmas and New Year’s Day, but I won’t be doing client work. In order to give myself some extra time off later, that’ll mean stepping up the pace now.

For some people having a long weekend for Thanksgiving is a must. Their jobs are all-consuming and/or highly stressful and the extended break is one way for them to recharge and refocus.

Personally, I am thankful to be able to call most of my own shots and not have to answer to the man. I still must please my customers, but not having someone in authority breathing down my neck makes self employment all the more desirable.

Did I mention that I am thankful?