Tag Archives: opinion

Understanding the Rules of Great Content

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Somewhat related to my Three Types of Blog Entries post…

In trying to catch up with the RSS feeds I subscribe to, I ran across an article titled “Understanding The Rules of Great Content” on ProBlogger Blog Tips, which says, in part:

In your quest for creating excellent content, you may have come across the following dilemma: I would love to create something important for my blog, but how do I, as a “mere” blogger contribute to that conversation at large? If I don’t create something de novo, will it be worth posting?

To answer that question, let me tell you about the 1 / 9 / 90 rule — and, in my humble opinion, its a rule that every blogger ought to live (and subsequently), die by.

In a way, the three types of blog posts I wrote about correspond to each part of the “rule” discussed in the article. The 1 is for 1% creating content — that’s where my “full-length articles” come in. The 9 is for 9% enriching content — that’s my “analysis of Web content.” And finally, the 90 is the 90% consuming content — that’s my “link lists.”

Although I’m not quite sure if I agree with the percentages — I’d rather see a 10 / 30 / 60 rule — I find it interesting that Tony Hung over at Problogger.net should come up with the same basic idea that I did, right around the same time. It’s as if we were both thinking about the kinds of entries a blogger could write but came up with different ways to say the same thing.

If you found my post interesting, I highly recommend that you read Tony’s. He goes into more detail about how to stay in that 9 percent.

As for this post, it falls into the 9 percent category. (Or at least I hope it does.)

A Helicopter Repair Story

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Including a happy ending.

On Tuesday, I flew out to Robson’s Mining World in Aguila, AZ. I was scheduled to appear there on Saturday for their anniversary celebration and I wanted to make sure my usual landing zone was in good shape.

It was a windy day and I was tossed around a bit on the 8-minute flight from Wickenburg (vs. a 30-minute drive). But the winds were calmer closer to the ground. I circled Robson’s once, then set down on what I thought was a spot closer to the road. Turned out, it was the same spot I’d occupied the year before. It just looked closer to the road from the air. The quartz rocks Mike and John had laid out in a line for me were still there. The idea was to land with the helicopter’s cockpit over the line. That would keep my tail rotor away from the bushes behind us. But since the bushes looked bigger than they had the year before, I positioned the helicopter a little bit closer to the road.

I cooled down the helicopter and shut down the engine. Then I went out to assess the landing zone on foot. I discovered that the quartz line was still quite workable for me. The bushes were farther back than I’d thought on landing. (I always estimate the helicopter’s tail longer than it really is.) So the landing zone was fine. No trimming would be required. That’s good because I don’t like the idea of cutting any desert vegetation unless absolutely necessary.

I put on my jacket — it was still quite cool at 9 AM — and walked through Robson’s front gates. The place looked deserted. I headed toward the restaurant, planning on having a piece of pie for breakfast. The door was locked but as I was starting to turn away, Rosa, who works in the restaurant, hurried out from the kitchen and opened the door. I settled down at a table and she talked me into having a real breakfast of bacon and eggs. She set me up with a small pot of hot tea and went back into the kitchen to prepare my food.

I had a few awkward moments when the teapot’s lid fell into my cup and became stuck there. If I’d been with someone, we would have been laughing hard. But I was alone and laughed at myself more quietly. I had to pour all the tea back into the pot and wait for the lid in the cup to cool and contract a tiny bit before I could get it out.

Rosa brought me a plate of fresh fruit — grapefruit, pineapple, grapes, and oranges — then disappeared back into the kitchen. I busied myself by reading the history of Robson’s and some information about the equipment and vehicles on display. When she brought out my breakfast a while later, I gobbled down the two eggs over medium, three slices of bacon, and two slices of wheat toast with real butter. (Don’t you hate when restaurants use mystery spread on toast?)

The person I was hoping to see there, Rebecca, wasn’t in yet. She lives in Wickenburg and drives out five days a week to manage the place. I saw her drive in just as I was starting the engine for the helicopter at about 9:45. Since the engine was already running and the blades were already turning, I didn’t shut down. I had another stop to make.
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Rewarding Reader Participation

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Because reading blogs should not be a spectator sport.

Sometimes I feel as if I’m blogging to myself. I know I’m not — the stats show more than 3,000 page views a week here, which isn’t too shabby. But the people who stop by seem to read (or browse) and hurry on their way without offering any feedback on what they’ve read.

Now everyone has an opinion and I like to think that everyone has additional insight they can share on many topics. That’s what the Comments links are for. So, in an effort to encourage comments from readers, I’ve decided to experiment with a little giveaway.

At January month-end, I’ll give away one of my books to a randomly selected commenter who posted a comment on one of my January 2007 posts. The book is reader’s choice from currently available titles. If this little reward program is successful at getting site visitors to participate with useful, insightful comments, I’ll continue the program for each month with similar rewards.

Keep in mind that this applies to comments posted using the Comments link for a particular post on this site. (Feedback submitted via contact form is not eligible.) The comment must pass muster with our spam prevention software, so if you comment and your comment doesn’t appear within 48 hours, it’s likely that its content was considered spam.

What do you think about this? Don’t keep it to yourself. Use the Comments link.

Tips for Becoming a Good Blogger

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From MPDailyFix.com.

Tim Jackson at MPDailyFix.com wrote an article back in November titled “What Does It Mean to Be a ‘Good Blogger’?“that I just stumbled upon. In it, he provides five tips for better blogging. Here they are with my take on them; you should read Tim’s article for his take.

  • Know your topic. You really shouldn’t write authoritatively about a topic when you don’t know enough about the topic to do so. Opinion is one thing, but if it’s based on facts, get the facts straight. That means doing your homework. These days, that’s easy — you’re sitting in front of a computer connected to the Internet, aren’t you? Use Wikipedia, Google, or your favorite search engine to find articles that explain things you aren’t sure about. This really hits home with me today because just yesterday I was blasted for not knowing off the top of my head that Apple sells a “two-button” mouse. I was familiar with the Mighty Mouse product but did not know all of its features. I corrected myself in the very next post, but that wasn’t enough for some readers. Ouch!
  • Know your audience. This one is extremely difficult for me, primarily because this site covers so many topics: support for my books and articles, stories about flying, information about writing, opinions, articles about travel, and stories about the things that go on in my life. Exactly who does this blog appeal to? I have no idea. But I can use stats or metrics to learn more about what people are reading when they come here. For example, yesterday’s article “Apple’s ‘Two-Button’ Mouse” was a huge hit with visitors, getting hundreds of page views and nine comments in a matter of hours. (Huge numbers for this site.) Articles about blogging and statistics also seem to do very well. Is that what my audience wants? Perhaps I should deliver more. But I’ve also decided to install polling software that asks readers which topics interest the most. That might help, too.
  • Read other blogs and leave comments on them. This is something I’ve been working hard to squeeze into my schedule. I’ve found that RSS reader software (I use Endo) is very helpful because it delivers articles or summaries of articles right to one central location. I can spend a few minutes browsing through the inbox, then follow links to the original articles. That’s how I found the article I’m discussing here. This is time consuming but it has three major benefits: (1) I learn a lot about the topics I’m following, (2) I get fodder for articles on this blog (or at least links for my automated del.icio.us links posts (see This just in…), and (3) I’m able to become part of the blogging community. (More on that in a moment.)
  • Follow the links. This isn’t a huge deal for me, since I don’t have many incoming links. Yet. But it is important to see who is linking to your site. Sadly, many of the incoming links appear to be from sites trying to up their Google ranking by linking to other sites. But when I do follow a quality link, it’s good to see that someone else has appreciated what I’ve written. And that brings us to Tim’s last tip.
  • Say thanks. This is a great way to become part of the blogging community. When someone has linked to one of your posts, it’s always nice to say thanks. Not only does this make the person on the other end feel good about sharing your work with other readers, but it builds community. This morning provided a great example of this in my e-mail inbox: I had a thank you note from the author of one of the articles I’d blogged about yesterday. She’d spent a few moments on my site and had some positive things to say about the Contact Me page, which has always been a sore subject. It was nice of her to take the time to write and even nicer to get some positive feedback about my rather strict contact policies.

Again, this is my take on Tim’s five tips. To read Tim’s take and the comments left by readers on his site, read his article.

And I’d love to get some comments about this topic here. Use the Comments link.

And the Survey Says:

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Iraq wants us out.

Some misguided soul named Nicole who was surfing the net stumbled upon my “Support Our Troops” post where I ranted about the yellow ribbons. The post is nearly two years old and she obviously did some digging to find it. (Perhaps she was searching Google for information on where she could find her own yellow ribbon.) She decided to use the comments link to blast me as “ignorant” and a “disgrace.”

Yeah. Right. Whatever.

In response to her ignorant (I really can’t think of a better word; ignorant does mean “lacking in information or knowledge in general,” which fits her perfectly) comment, I attempted to shed some light on the situation. Real light. Not that narrow rose-colored beam cast by the conservative propaganda machine. I pointed out that her Marine boyfriend is not fighting for our freedom. He’s fighting for the freedom of the Iraqi people. And, according to an article on the Editor & Publisher Web site, “New Survey: Iraqis Want a Speedy U.S. Exit — and Back Attacks on U.S. Forces“:

Past surveys have hinted at this result, but a new poll in Iraq makes it more stark than ever: the Iraqi people want the U.S. to exit their country. And most Iraqis now approve of attacks on U.S. forces, even though 94% express disapproval of al-Qaeda.

At one time, this was primarily a call by the Sunni minority, but now the Shiites have also come around to this view. The survey by much-respected World Public Opinion (WPO), taken in September, found that 74% of Shiites and 91% of Sunnis in Iraq want us to leave within a year. The number of Shiites making this call in Baghdad, where the U.S. may send more troops to bring order, is even higher (80%). In contrast, earlier this year, 57% of this same group backed an “open-ended” U.S. stay.

By a wide margin, both groups believe U.S. forces are provoking more violence than they’re preventing — and that day-to-day security would improve if we left. [emphasis added.]

With this in mind, and knowing that 3,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died in the conflict, how can any American continue to support the War in Iraq?

Don’t get me wrong: I do support our troops. These people are making the ultimate sacrifice — unquestioningly following the orders of their commanding officers, literally risking life and limb to achieve military objectives decided upon by someone far removed from the field of battle. Throughout history, the military has protected us from threats to our way of life, from the Revolutionary War through World War II.

If our military forces were fighting off an invasion to our shores or helping to protect one of our close (and grateful) allies from attackers, I’d be doing whatever a normal citizen could do to help (short of putting one of those ridiculous yellow ribbons on my vehicle — ah, just kidding).

But I don’t support the Iraq War. In the three years since we invaded, it’s become clear that we had no plan and no real idea of what to face there. Sure, we got rid of Saddam Hussein, a murdering bastard responsible for the wholesale slaughter of his own people. And we’ve brought “democracy” to the country — whatever that is worth. (I’m still not convinced that democracy is the right solution for every country, but we won’t go there, since I’m not prepared to stand on either side of that argument.) But we’ve brought Iraq into a state of chaos, where our own people have become part of the problem.

I want nothing more than for all of our troops to come home and be with their families this holiday season. I know that won’t happen. But I also know that blindly supporting the policies of our government in Iraq won’t help anyone — not our military, not our people, and certainly not the Iraqi people, more than half of which want to kill us.

Please let’s do something proactive about the situation. Please let’s wrap up the situation in Iraq quickly and get our people home.

I want my ignorant friend, Nicole, to be able to wrap her arms around her boyfriend — her whole boyfriend — on U.S. soil and and move forward in a life together.