The Blogging Saga

Posted on January 5, 2012 by Ralph

It is maybe three years since

To Blog or not to blog?

I began blogging and over that time my vision has evolved. Originally, I was focused on politics and expressing my feelings about various events in the political world. It was all about me. I finally got so incensed and frankly burned out that I withdrew completely for a time. It was clear that I had no insights of a unique nature and was not adding to the general level of discourse. My following was among others with the same perspective. We were reinforcing out own points of view but not changing minds or adding to the dialogue. It was mildly satisfying but ultimately more work than I could justify and, of course, I didn’t build a big following. Continue reading →

Originally posted 2009-11-04 10:01:10. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

On Comments and Gordon Ramsey

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Ralph

: Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The sky is falling

I have been agonizing here at RCB because the comments have fallen off. It was a great ride getting comments after months with hardly any. I was enjoying the attention and feeling good. I felt that it was proof that people liked me. Sigh! My reader count was up too. More people were stopping by and more were returning. I was feeling good about my effort. I concluded that what I was writing was interesting and people (some at least) were checking back to look for new content. My confidence was building. My enthusiasm growing but then it happened.
Continue reading →

Originally posted 2010-04-05 08:58:51. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Retirement Advice: Know what’s important.

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Ralph

: Image via Wikipedia

Hats off to Joan

I rail about the benefits of blogging for ‘mature’ people “Why do I rail?” you ask. If you have followed me for a while you know that it is just what I do but there is reasoning behind it. Blogging or reading blogs is a good way to get your thinking right or to understand the thinking of other people. If you don’t have anything to say yourself then you should be reading the blogs of people who do. I can’t tell you how much I have learned about life from connecting with other people through their blogs. Through their thoughtful posts I can learn how they approach life and make real decisions. I like to think that each of us should make our lives extraordinary (sometimes I say outrageous) but it is hard to do because society wants us to be responsible and cautious. I think that you need to do things that you will remember all your days with great pleasure instead of not doing them and regretting what you could have done. One of the bloggers I read regularly did just that and she shared her decision process with her readers. Joan looked at her choices and rejected conventional wisdom. Joan decided to be outrageous. Continue reading →

Originally posted 2010-10-29 09:38:24. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Beating Your Stats

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Ralph

I have never used my stats as a measurement and encouragement in my blogging. This is just one more activity that wasn’t on my radar. There are several reasons. Probably the first and most important is that my readership was not growing. Who wants to measure something stable. A second reason is that I didn’t have any goals because I didn’t want the frustration of failing to achieve them. Well, one of the things I have learned recently is how to get readers to come at least once. A bigger trick is to have contents that make them come back again but it seems that I have some ability there as well. So, bottom line, my readership has been growing.

I have to credit James for this improvement but following James is not for the weak and flabby. He continually raises the bar.

So what are those stats?

I have been following my stats with StatCounter so lets see what the story was for yesterday, Saturday January 30. I had 94 visitors up from 82 the week before. 79 were fist time visitors and 15 were returning visitors. The stats for the week before were 68 and 14. I am not so sure where these visitors are coming from. I added StatPress to my blog to get the same stats that James is using but I can’t seem to find them. I am pleased with this growth, however, from whence it might be coming. I am even willing to set a goal for February to double those stats to 200 visitors and 30 returning.

But what about posts?

Now to go a step further and look at what readers like on RCB, the stats tell me that my most popular posts are these:

70 views for my reminiscences about our 1959 Chevrolet convertible

23 views for the top 10 reasons to post daily

22 views for my reminiscences about our 1950Chrvrolet pickup truck

Now I need some help.

I know that search engines are responsible for the visit to the car posts and I suspect that those are readers who don’t return regularly but I don’t honestly know. I don’t have comments from those posts so there is no reason to think that after arriving from Google, they stick around to sample the other posts but I don’t know. I need some help here. If anybody came to RCB through searches that led to my car posts and stuck around for some of the other items, let me know.

Otherwise, has anybody got any ideas about how to use those hits to entice readers to other posts and finally do my periodic nostalgia posts (cars mostly so far) add value to anyone?

I’ve taking up James challenge and revealing my stats so far. Now I need help from readers to know how to channel my efforts going forward.

Originally posted 2010-02-02 09:16:48. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Simple-What does it mean to you?

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Ralph

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits has become a guru for those seeking to simplify their lives. As he states in his Simple Living Manifesto:

A simple life has a different meaning and a different value for every person. For me, it means eliminating all but the essential, eschewing chaos for peace, and spending your time doing what’s important to you.

The man is a modern miracle. He has become an icon to bloggers and all those seeking a simpler life in these complex times. He is also wise in understanding that simple to him may not be simple to others. This is the first post of three this week exploring the concept of simple and specifically the simple life and

I need your help!

As Leo says, simple can be different for each of us. In his Simplicity Manifesto, he lists 72 ideas that can simplify your life. If you are interested in simplifying your life; If you have simplified your life; or If you think that simplifying your life is an impossible fantasy, I need you to tell me about it. Have you used or are your thinking of trying one of Leo’s ideas? Do you have one of your own that Leo doesn’t mention?

In the second post, I will explore the definition of simple and some of the related concepts.

The third post will use your input to examine how real people get down and dirty with being simple.

Here is my example. Recently I adopted Number 30 – Keep your mailbox empty. I admit that I learned this from Merlin Mann at 43 Folders not Leo but I no longer face unresolved email messages every time I open my mailbox. I don’t know how much time I wasted rethinking and then bypassing messages time after time while trying to decide how to handle them. Now I make a quick decision and the message is gone.

Now it is your turn. Add your comments here or @RalphCarlson on Twitter.

Originally posted 2009-08-17 09:16:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Why I blog,

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Ralph

Image by Johannes P Osterhoff via Flickr

I confess!

If you haven’t noticed, I have been using a plugin here on my blog which recycles old posts. It feels like cheating because I have been spending more time on the business side of my daily work hours and the number of new blog posts has been dropping as a result. It is a random process and I am constantly surprized at the content, like the PDCA recycled post from two years ago that popped up recently. Back then I proposed to look at three areas of activity in my web life: blogging, social networking and making money. People have commented about hearing more. I could go back and see what I reported but since the question is still relevant today, I think it is worth a new response. I know that I have a completely different understanding about my mission on the web and I finally seem to have traction in the business area. So today I will cover the area of blogging. What is my purpose in continuing to blog, both here and at Cantankerous Old Coots?

Back in the old days.

I have been blogging long enough that the truth is shrouded in mists of confusion and rationalization but when started blogging, I believed that you could make money on the web and that while making money with your blog is hard, successful bloggers could make money. I had participated in multi-level marketing businesses for a long time but found that my personality rebelled at the marketing system from my upline. I was burned out talking to people who weren’t looking for a business. When I did some research I discovered that there were sccessful MLM business owners who made contact through the web. I didn’t understand how and I began to follow people that seemed to know what they were doing trying to learn more.

Becoming an Alpha

What I did understand was that I needed to have some authority and that one way to do this was building a successful blog. So I got serious about becoming a successful blogger, maybe even a famous blogger. My vision at the time was that buildnig a successful blog would give me a following of people who would be a target market for my MLM business. Looking back, I see that my thinking was naïve. There was logic to my reasoning but I knew nothing about marketing. Just because I was targeting retirement aged people as blog readers, didn’t mean that they were interested in starting a business. They weren’t my target market. But this gets ahead of my story because my business model required that I bevome a successful blogger with a list of people interested in the content of my blog. That, initially, was my reason for blogging.

So how is that working for me?

Well despite a lot of work, spending money on blogging courses and agonizing over my niche, my blog hasn’t accomplished its original mission. My list is small and I think that the people on it are unlikely to be looking for a busines opportunity. Yet, I continue to blog. So why am I still blogging? What is my mission? Right now, I think it is purely selfish.

My blog is a life journal.

Part of my life mission is living an outrageous retirement lifestyle. For me that means that my wife and I are active and engaged in life. We are traveling as much as we can afford and taking time to smell the roses. Right now, my blog is more of a personal journal documenting my lifestyle and keeping me on target. These days I have modest expectations. I don’t expect to attract a wide following because my content provides limited value. I don’t provide information and advice for people planning their retirement. I don’t pretend to know the ‘right’ answers about financial planning and investments. I can’t pretend to tell people how they should live and what they should do. What I know is that life is an adventure and that you only have one shot. You don’t get a do over. I just know that up to now, I have been timid and conventional in my life. I have squandered many years and now as my body begins to let me down, I don’t have time to waste. I have just a little time left to live and I want to live it as well as possible. My blog is the documentation of that effort.

And that’s it as I see it.

I expect that a year from now, I will have a different answer but right now September 25,2011 this is how I feel about blogging. And follow the link if you want to know what I thought about blogging two years ago.

Plan, Do, Check, Adjust

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Ralph

: Image via Wikipedia

Time for a check up

This next week I will be examining my efforts to become relevant and make money on the web. It all started with a blog. Somehow it made sense to me that I had something to say that someone else would care about and so I began. At first, I had no real plan and posted just what occurred to me when I sat down to post. Slowly, I began to see a pattern in my posts and slipped into a routine but I also discovered a community on the web that seemed to understand a bigger picture. This has led me into exploring the opportunities and resources of the web. It is a big world and there are many people who offer help. It is easy to get sidetracked and led down rabbit trails. At this point, with no measurable progress in gaining readership or making money, it makes sense to stop and evaluate my current efforts. One of my business mentors calls this PDCA (Plan, Do, Check and Adjust). I did a bit of planning and a fair amount of doing. Now it is time to really check out my accomplishments and make some adjustments.

There are three activity areas to examine:

Blog
Social Networking
Making Money

I have already posted about the Social Networking area. Although I am participating, it is unclear that I receive any benefits from this effort. Clearly there is some checking and adjusting necessary here. I have never discussed Making Money in the blog but I think it is time. Blogging is what I have done for the longest time. It is perhaps the area in which I have some degree of technical competence. So I will start with blogging. First, I will start with a summary of my experiences and strategies and then some checking and adjusting. As I work through this I intend to intersperse some lighter posts. I will need some diversion because this kind of self-evaluation is painful to me. As I go along, I welcome observations, comments and suggestions. I need help in staying objective and identifying things that I can do better, new things I should try or things I should avoid. Stay tuned.

Originally posted 2009-11-02 09:54:21. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Retirement Lifestyle Weekend- Part 2, WordPress Wordcamp

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Ralph

Image by sheilaellen via Flickr

Growing as a Blogger

When I started blogging, it was basically an ego trip. I thought that I must have something valuable to share. This was a serious mistake but like most mistakes, there was a lesson to learn if I was open to seeing it. I had potential as a blogger because of a basic understanding of grammar and syntax, life experiences which provided context for commentary and a brain. What I lacked was an understanding about human nature, serious communication skills and a genuine love of my fellow men. And I didn’t really appreciate what a great obstacle that was.

I don’t quite understand why I stuck with blogging, given my serious deficiencies but perhaps it has to do with my need for mastery and my ego. I have always believed that there is unlimited potential to learn and master skills. I felt that I could do it.

WordPress Wordcamp San Francisco

So Sunday found me at Wordcamp San Francisco hoping to increase my mastery of blogging and my understanding of the possibilities provided on the WordPress platform. What I find remarkable about WordPress is that it allows me to go beyond my limits. Without achieving the technical mastery of programming HTML or CSS, I can make complicated things happen on my blog. I can embed videos and music. I can post pictures. I can make layout changes. What WordPress can’t do for me is give me skill and judgment in how to use these capabilities for powerful communication. I love the features. But more and more I discover that I am using them poorly.

Technical mastery does not equate to making connections

I can grow more with my technical blogging skills and I appreciate learning new features and possibilities from WordPress but I was really wanting to learn more about how successful bloggers think and how they create magic on their blogs. The presentations that I most enjoyed were bloggers sharing their whys and not their hows. From my perspective Wordcamp didn’t provide enough of that. In fairness, I don’t think that that is what WordPress or Wordcamp is about. WordPress is a powerful platform not a training program for bloggers.

So what is WordPress?

WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg revealed that WordPress isn’t about blogging. It is about freeing information. Bloggers are merely an artifact of that process. Which perhaps explains my reaction to Wordcamp. Wordcamp supports the WordPress mission. Bloggers are are not a part of this mission. They are more like moss that grows on a building when the conditions are right- interesting but irrelevant. Or maybe like the pet collie you like to have around when you get home from a hard day at the office to lick your hand. He makes you feel good but doesn’t make you better at your job.

I didn’t relate to the Sunday program

I think this is why I struggled with the format of Wordcamp. The blogger focused sessions were snacks, not nourishing meals. Most were presented by staff and not real bloggers and focused on new features and how to use them not on using the platform to connect emotionally with readers. It wasn’t what I was seeking but in review I think that this makes perfect sense for WordPress. My expectations were unreasonable. Still I learned from the experience. I have a better appreciation for the power and limitations of WordPress for bloggers. It won’t make my blog better even if it can load it up with technical fireworks.

Will I attend another?

Whether Wordcamp San Francisco makes sense for bloggers is another question. My initial response is that I wasn’t their target and that blogging is not really essential to their mission so I shouldn’t attend unless I am interested in seriously getting into the code. Still, I now have a much greater appreciation for the process and resources that make my blog production so easy. My simple worldview of blogging has become more complex. Technical prowess and skillful blogging are completely separate skills. It is unreasonable to expect to learn both from the same source. Without attending Wordcamp I still wouldn’t have learned that lesson. So, I value the experience. There was useful information and an opportunity to participate in the WordPress community. Now I have better information to evaluate next year’s Wordcamp and what I can learn there. Will I attend? It’s too early to say.

Retirement Lifestyle Weekend Part 2, Wordpress Wordcamp

Should Blogging be a part of your lifestyle design?

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Ralph

Image by cambodia4kidsorg via Flickr

Blogging has matured.

These days most people are aware of blogging. They may not know much about the technical details but they know that it is accessible. Anybody can do it. What most people miss is the reason for blogging. Is it only an expression of bravado; a way to show off or is there more to it? Should everybody consider blogging?

Last year I developed a list of ten reasons why Boomers should consider blogging. I was focusing on boomers because it seemed to me that they were a natural target for my topic about retirement lifestyle. This is certainly true today with more and more boomers reaching retirement age but my thinking has evolved. These days, it is not only boomers who want to take control of their lives. It is everyone. Today, the only way for most people to create a lifestyle of fulfillment is by taking control. You can do that at any age- and when you do, you can begin living on your own terms. Why wait until retirement age? Continue reading →

The Split Personality of Ralph Carlson

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Ralph

Image by vaXzine via Flickr

One of my personal handicaps is a very left brain dominated persona. I was always drawn to analytical work during my life. Originally I believed that I just didn’t know how to relate to people- or more immediately know what to say to them after hello. I was long convinced that people (or specifically me) were born with a personality and that you couldn’t change it. Fortunately I gradually discovered that I had more potential to be relatable. My current personality may not be as charismatic as Bill Clinton but I’m working on it.

Over the years I developed a sarcastic edge which with my wife’s guidance I have managed to hobble. I always thought that sarcasm (kidding) was just fun. My wife assures me that it is not and that I have absolutely no sense of humor. Lately, people on the web have told me that I have a dry sense of humor. I find that hard to believe but I also know that I can learn anything I choose. So among my endeavors, I am trying to hone my funny bone. One part of that dimension of my life, is another blog I contribute to called Cantankerous Old Coots. While Ralph Carlson Blog panders to my left brain analyzing and organizing information in logical bites, Cantankerous Old Coots is a place to let my right brain play. Continue reading →

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Ralph Carlson Blog

How to create your own unique retirement lifestyle.

Tag Archives: Blogging