Palm Discovery

Ah, another opportunity to break from the usual Palm related postings. Today I will be focusing on a group writing project for Darren Prowse’s ProBlogger (forget the “Pro” part since I am nowhere near “pro” in any sense of the word) blog called If I had to Start My Blog Again - Group Writing Project. Those who have read my previous submissions to the group writing projects should be familiar with the editorial and personal opinion feel of the posting. Those who aren’t, will get a feel of how different (or not, I’m not sure how much different it is since I’ve never received much of a comment on these editorial postings) these are. Personally, I am really finding that I’m looking forward to these special group writing projects because I keep things a bit different and fresh and break away from the usual Palm discussion and I’m sure that some readers may enjoy the break too.

Okay. So, how would things be for Palm Discovery if I didn’t start blogging back in October 2005 at Blogger but instead, chose to start today, with the knowledge , wisdom(?), experience that I have now?

Well, first of all, knowing what I know (albeit still limited in many ways as my blog is still very young and small), I probably would have first started out volunteering to write at other blogs instead of starting out at Blogger or Wordpress or other similar free blogging sites. Why? Well, I’d get a better sense of what it’s like to blog, get a feel of the structure of what’s expected in blogging and have an audience that will become familiar with me and my writing. Doing this is beneficial as I can concentrate on blogging without starting out from scratch and working hard to attract an audience.

Anyone who starts out blogging will know that there’s a lot of work to set up a blog (regardless of what others say) that readers will come back to. It takes time (at least for me) and lots of postings to establish yourself as someone who is serious enough at blogging. Many times, I find that a lot of blogs that start out great at Blogger and other sites end up being dropped or the postings dry up, mainly due to a lack of audience or maybe the writer has moved on to better things. There’s a lot of time and effort required and unless you show your readers that you have enough material and done enough time consistently writing, they aren’t likely to “trust” you and come back. So, by volunteering to write for a blog that’s already established (although it’s not your blog), you don’t have to worry about these things until you feel the time is right to start out on your own.

So, as things progress, and I feel that I am comfortable enough to start out on my own, then, I’d start my own blog. I’d first register and get my own domain name, get a good host with good tech support and use Wordpress, which is a great free blogging platform. Forget about the free blogging sites like Blogger because it can be such a pain to move to your own domain and host (as I’ve discovered) when you do decide to move. And most serious bloggers will, do so mainly because you have a much better control over your blog. And of course, whenever you move your blog to somewhere else, you will always suffer in terms of blog ranking, traffic, hits, etc. It’s been months since I’ve moved and I’m still not back to getting the traffic I used to get with Blogger. Okay, back to the topic.

With the experience and the relationship that I may have established with many online suppliers and software developers while I was doing my volunteer blogging, I may start to call upon them for support and sponsorship, either for contest prizes, or for product reviews and the like. Doing so obviously helps attract more readers to the site which also benefits the sponsors for the advertising. The more bloggers out there don’t necessarily mean less traffic to the popular blog. I find that I visit as many blogs as I can because they all offer something different. And for the sponsors, it means more exposure for them. So both the blogger and the sponsor benefit. I will still continue to volunteer to blog while writing stuff for my own blog. Periodically, the same material could be posted on both sites so that both blogs can get the exposure. So, it’s still a win-win situation. I still retain a relationship with the other blog, supporters, audience while I continue promoting my own. Just because I have my own blog doesn’t necessarily mean that I abandon my ties and relationship with the one that gave me a start.

So, hopefully, starting out the blog with an audience that is familiar with me can help me financially as they may be more likely to support my blog via affiliate links to products and software so that hopefully, the cost of hosting and other fees aren’t always at the back of my mind. That way, I may not have to provide as much advertising links and ads. I am quite aware that there are a lot of ads and affiliate links on my blog, but unfortunately, I don’t have much choice. Until I am in a situation where the hosting and other costs associated with the blog are no longer a concern, I will have to continue providing the affiliate links. As much as I keep saying, I am doing the blogging mainly because I love what I do and not for the money. My main focus for the money is to pay off the bills. Hopefully, someday, I will be in a situation where I don’t have to worry about paying the bills. And, of course, a BIG THANKS to everyone who has helped by purchasing software, products using my affiliate links! Every penny counts! It is VERY much appreciated! Or, I could have set up an online store for the blog. Who knows?

Now, if I were to imagine how Palm Discovery would have been if I started it the way I just mentioned, this may be how it hypothetically would have been:

The blog would start out with an established audience that was already familar with me. I would have gained much experience (and maybe some wisdom), established a good relationship with suppliers and sponsors that I could easily be able to call upon them for support. Palm Discovery would likely have only a few ads and affiliate links and maybe even an online hardware and software store. As well, there would be a discussion forum where readers can interact with others to discuss Palm related and even off-topic discussions. The blog could periodically hold contests with both hardware and software prizes by sponsors and I would continue to blog for both the original blog and my own without any worries about paying the bills. Poof! Dream over.

That sounds great. But unfortunately, we can’t go back in time. In my case, I seem to have scrambled the order and may have even gone “backwards” in some ways. But, sigh, we all live and learn. I hope to be able to continue whatever path I’ve created for myself and try to make the best of what I’ve got and maybe even improve on it.

I have recently become an Associate Writer at the popular Palm Addicts blog (obviously something that I should have done long ago before but didn’t. Oh well, it’s never too late) and really enjoying it as I’m posting something that is somewhat different from what I do in my own blog thus, making it somewhat fresh and fun as well as getting my name “out there”. As well, from time to time, I do participate in many of the Palm and Treo forums including Brighthand, TreoCentral, Palm and others although with the double blogging, I am unable to spend as much time at the forums now but still do try.

I really can’t complain about how things turned out. As with life, we all live and learn from our mistakes. It’s really about how we try to make things better and improve with our knowledge and experience. I have to say that I’ve gained a lot in the months since I first started a little blog named maceyr’s palm discovery in October 2005. Although I say that I would have done it differently if I were to start today, I am thankful for what I’ve learned even with all the mistakes and everything. Hopefully someone who is planning on starting out with a blog will gain some insight from my experience.

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Palm Discovery

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