Wooooooo!! A new writing position!

Hey everyone, You might recall a posting on Saturday, January 17, 2009 about Acoorn web design services.

I just wanted to let you all know that I'm now writing for the design company (Still doing this as well by the way, so no worries, this will continue to get updated as regularly as it has been, You'll still find all of your great news, reviews and everything else, all in one place..RIGHT HERE! I won't be going anywhere...

I invite you all to come view my postings, leave your comments, stay in touch and updated on the world of web design, The address to find my posts is http://www.acoorn.co.uk/blog/

I

Whewwwwww

Ran into a problem yesterday evening, somehow, during a "scheduled server outage" at Blogger, Something messed up my page, you'll notice the widgets and things on the right , are no longer the same, I lost all of them!! I've tried putting back as many of them as I could... For some reason, Some of them are also repeating on the page (on this pc anyways, any of you not seeing it that way?).

At least the content in the main body area of the page is left (relatively, had to do some small re-alignments) unharmed.

Vlogging

If you’ve heard the term “vlogging,” you may be wondering what it is exactly.

Vlogging is a combination of the words “video” and “blogging,” which form the word vlogging.

Vlogging is an innovative method of blogging where bloggers make their own videos and upload these to their blogs, so that blog visitors are treated to a movie, over simply looking at lines of text.

Why Video Blogging Offers Distinct Advantages

- Interactivity with readers
- A somewhat more personal touch, your audience can "see the person behind the words"
- For the blogger who isn’t a fan of typing, vlogging may be the perfect “hands-off” medium
- Vlogging engages readers with visuals and sound

Today.com blogggers also have the option of vlogging. They can upload their video blogs to post on Today.com via the Today.com video upload page.

Are you interested in starting a vlog (video blog) or simply mixing up your posts with a few video blogs from time to time?

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

To get started vlogging, the most important piece of equipment you’ll need is a video-capable camera. You don’t have to drop tons of on on a camera, either – find one that fits within your budget that’s fairly decent and will support video.

Once you have created the video, you’ll need some sort of video software (there are a lot of decent options available, including Windows Movie Maker.) You’ll also need a program that will be able to compress the file. (A review of programs that do this can be found here.)

If you don’t already have a blog set up, go ahead and set up a blog on a free blogging site like blogspot.com There are several sites that cater to would-be bloggers where you can set up a blog for free. You definitely need a site to host your vlog for the world to see, so this is also an important step.

Of course, a vlog isn’t any good unless you’re passionate about the topic you’ll be blogging about. While written blog posts need to be indicative of the writers passion for the subject as well, video blogs DEFINITELY can’t be boring. No one wants to watch you fumble for words, twiddling your thumbs, fidgeting, fumbling through notes to get a point across, talking in a monotone voice, daydreaming or falling asleep on camera!

If you choose a topic you enjoy and will be able to stick with, your vlogging days will be that much more enjoyable – for you AND your readers/viewers.

Vlogging is a neat tool in the ever-changing arena of blogging. Truly, video blogging’s time has arrived.

Until next time....

See Spottt fetch more visitors

To bring more visitors to my blog, I looked for a service to help give my page more exposure. I wanted something that could be both easy to use, and affordable. I found Spottt! Spottt is the latest invention of Phil Kaplan, the founder of Adbrite and earlier of F***edcompany.com.

What I really love is that it's wonderfully straight-forward: It lets sites exchange ads, to boost each other’s traffic (you help me, I help you, what could be better?). Publishers provide an ad for another site, in return for accepting an ad from the other site. Spottt does this for free, but later on will presumably take a cut. Spottt is promising because most sites have ad space that can go empty for periods of time, after an advertising campaign ends, for example.

The idea first arose in 1996, when Tony Hsieh launched a company called Link Exchange, which i'm sure most of you have heard of by now. By its first year, 30,000 Web sites were using it. A million were using it in 1998, when Microsoft bought it for $250 million. However, Microsoft shut it down this year, Hsieh tells us. This is consternating, given the tens of millions of blogs that could use this service. Kaplan has recruited Hsieh as an advisor for the new effort.

The ads are of 125×125 pixel size, and must run “above the fold.” Sites apply for admission to Spottt, and choose a category. Then one shoe retail site can exchange ads with a shoe repair site, for example. Right from the moment you submit your site, Spottt is easy to use. Free...easy to use....and brings visitors to your webpage... really can't get much better then that!