Style Versus Content in Your Blog

Posted: 19 Jan 2010 07:45 PM PST

This is a guest post by Ciprian Ginghina. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

The word on the street, or perhaps I should say 'information superhighway', is that certain text style options make website content and blogs 'pop' and are thereby more appealing to readers. The use of short sentences within short paragraphs decorated with bullet point lists and sub-headers apparently hold our attention in a vise grip, bewitched by the format. Blogging gurus peddle these presentation options as if they are some magical beguiling cloak for crap writing.

Yup, advertisers have discovered writing. The same people that compose commercial content for the Thigh Master*, penis enlargement cream and the Snuggie* have suddenly realized that rather than hire professional writers (y'know, people that read and write extensively and thereby have actual vocabularies and legitimate skills in idea communication), they can instead employ any old Duncan to throw together a few mismatched words, inject them into their online formatting template, and boom! Instant captivation.

(Oops, that middle sentence in the last paragraph was far too long! But you read it? Why? How did that happen? There were no bullet points, nor even a sub-header in bold!)

One thing a writer requires is faith in his or her readers' smarts. You shouldn't treat them like idiots, because:

They aren't
A high proportion of them are actually more intelligent than you are
You have to respect that, or they can tell
Oh Christ, I'm using bullet points

The use of such style tricks is akin to using flashing lights as a distraction in a zombie movie. If you instead want to attract survivors to your fortified mall/pub/apartment (especially physically attractive ones that can read) it's best to write a legible banner and illuminate it with a single lamp.

Yup, I used an extended zombie movie metaphor. Nope, it's not in the manual. And guess what? You read that bit, too.

I'm sure, by now, you've guessed my point. Writing can be compelling by itself if you're willing to spend a little time making it so. You don't need to follow style guidelines from some self-appointed expert. Sure, Search Engine Optimization is a desirable focus; you want people to read your stuff, and SEO is a method to elevate your Google/Yahoo/etc. page rankings. Thankfully, search engine Spiders, the software that secretly explores your web content for relevancy, are getting wise to the ways of the keyword stuffers. As technology advances, so does the ability of the Spiders to avoid being fooled by the black hat brigade. They are starting to develop methods of recognizing quality writing for what it is, rather than a bunch of filler packed around keywords.

And thank goodness for that. Maybe one day I won't ever again have to waste valuable minutes of my life wading through pointlessly decorated drivel. (Incidentally, is no one else a little perturbed that a machine can recognize talent when it examines a block of text? There's another blog, right there…).

Note from Daniel: I don’t agree completely with the main point of this article, but I felt that having a different opinion was worth it, if nothing else to spark a discussion.

Ciprian Ginghina is a full time web developer. He has over five years of experience in web development. He specializes in LAMP platform and JQuery framework. He is also passionate about online marketing. His blog is an effort to share his insights on online marketing, blogging, personal development and personal finance.

Original Post: Style Versus Content in Your Blog

10 Tips to Create To-Do Lists Like a Pro!

Posted: 19 Jan 2010 06:23 AM PST

tips to do list While creating and using to-do lists is relatively simple, there are some tips and tricks you can use to multiply their effectiveness. Below I’ll share with you the 10 tips I learned with my to-do lists over the years.

1. Choose the Right Medium

Your to-do list must be in a place that is easily accessible. For most people this will be a small notepad that sits on their desks, but it might also be an application on your computer, your smartphone and so on. Just make sure that you will be able to add, remove and edit entries on your list easily.

2. Leave the List Visible All Day Long

It is essential to have your to-do list in front of your eyes all day long. This will reinforce the sense of urgency and get you working on your tasks as soon as you start slacking off.

3. Start Your Day with Your To-Do List

Develop the habit of sitting down and writing your to-do list at the beginning of every day. This is the best time to plan things out, because your mind is fresh and because you should have a good grasp of the important things that need to be done that day.

4. List Tasks for That Day Only

Do not try to plan the whole week or even a couple of days ahead. Focus on the tasks that need to be completed on that single day. You can’t know what will come up during the day, so the priorities for the day after might change.

5. Put the Important Tasks On Top

Always put the important tasks on top. First things first, as they say. It is also essential to tackle the tasks in order, else putting the important ones on top would be useless.

6. Have A Separate Section To Write Down Ideas and Notes

It is very likely that during the day new ideas and tasks will come up. Do not mix those with your existing to-do list, however, else you will mess things up. Instead have a section where you can write down ideas and other annotations, and then use them as input for tomorrow’s list.

7. List the Things You Are NOT Supposed To Do As Well

Apart from listing the stuff you need to do you can also list the stuff you are NOT supposed to do. If you lose productivity because you check your email every 10 minutes and keep logged on Twitter all day long, for example, you could have one entry on your to-do list as “Check Email Only Twice A Day” and another one as “Open Twitter Only After 6pm”. Then you would cross those tasks at the end of the day if you manage to respect them.

8. List A Realistic Number of Tasks

Even if you are feeling good in the morning, don’t try to add everything that comes to your head to your to-do list. Instead put a realistic number of activities there, and try to finish all of them by the end of the day. Listing too many tasks might discourage you at the beginning of the day, and frustrate you at the end.

9. Take Your Breaks Between Tasks (And Not Inside Them)

Taking breaks is essential for your productivity. Just make sure that your breaks are scheduled between your tasks, and not inside them. In other words, finish the task at hand before taking a break. If you take breaks while working on a certain task you’ll lose concentration and prolong the time it will take to complete it. Remember, finish what you start.

10. If You Miss A Task, Send it to Tomorrow’s List

Missing a couple of tasks here and there is normal. You can’t predict with accuracy how long each activity will take to be completed. The important thing is to not forget about those. Instead send the tasks you missed today to the top of tomorrow’s to-do list.

Original Post: 10 Tips to Create To-Do Lists Like a Pro!