I wonder why I haven’t done this on a regular basis. I mean why I haven’t posted my monthly favorite readings since the start. A long time ago, I’ve made a list of my favorite blogs I love to visit as often as I can. In some of these, I post comments but in most, I don’t. And there are also blogs that I visit through the results returned by a google search I make. This means that, when I say these are my favorites for the month of April, I meant I read them on April and not necessarily that they were published on April.
It occurred to me that perhaps some readers, whether the passing by types or the avid followers (cough), just might like knowing where I’ve been roaming around the net these past few weeks. Most importantly, they just might find some of what I read, helpful, or at least entertaining. Heck, if other folks can tweet “I’m watching a silly 3 Stooges CD”, or write on their facebook ‘wall’ “Feeling bored…”, I can post on my blog what I’ve been up to these past few weeks.
On Paid Posts
- Is It Ethical For Bloggers To Do Paid Posts?
This is just a poll post where you are asked to vote yes or no on the issue of whether it is ethical for bloggers to do paid posts, but the real gold is in the comment section where Sire’s readers pour out their thoughts on the matter. There is a scarcity however of thoughts from the ‘No’ voters. As of today, there has only been one No vote. If you think it’s not ethical to do paid posts, it’d be interesting if you go vote and post your comment at Sire’s article and express yourself. - Top 10 Paid to Post Sites for Blogs
After reading Sire’s post, I did a search on paid to post sites on google and I landed on an old post from brilliant4biz about the top 10 paid to post sites. This may no longer be true in terms of the sequence of which one is better than the other. I know about Payperpost for instance which the author placed at number 3, but a lot of folks today think is number one. I do paid post with PPP every now and then (when I feel like it, meaning when my lazy bones aren’t that lazy).
Blog Content
- Finding Your Voice as a Blogger
Depending on the niche of your blog, it is always best to write in a style that is most natural to you. I liked it when she mentions about feeling free to break some of Strunk and White’s ‘The Elements of Style’ rules. Mariana Ashley however suggests about giving a twist to your blog by changing styles every now and then, or at least changing the format of your content sometimes. - The Uninspired, Unencouraged and Unmotivated Guide to Unblogging
This one is a post that I find funny and practical. At times, I do find blogging kind of dreary and really a chore to do. I sometimes find myself uninspired to get on my dashboard and do what needs to be done. Dave has come up with a method of ‘jobifying’ your blogging, or how to unblog your blog. - What to do When Not In The Mood
First off, about the picture in the post, it’s not very often that I see a cat and man’s best friend, the remote control, together in loving embrace in a picture. Now, on to the content of the post. It’s somewhat related to Dave’s unblogging post. What Kristi wrote was very familiar. I have read the same thing about that ‘unwritten idea causing writer’s block’. Only it’s about artists who sometimes lose their drive and inspiration to paint for months until something happens to get them up and running again. Perhaps, Kristi is an artist who paints in words. Here, Kristi tells us about the way she overcomes writer’s block or when she just isn’t in the mood to write. And again, her commenters supply their own interesting methods/techniques of getting over their mood swings.
Photo Fun
- How Photoshop and ACDSee Can Improve Your Photos
Here, Sire (yes, the same Sire of wassupblog) highlights a couple of software he used to improve a photograph. The final picture looks like its brightness and contrast (and perhaps some other parameter) has been adjusted. In Photoshop, I usually have to drag a slider left and right and see at which point the image would look more satisfactory. ACDSee must be some kind of software because Sire said it took him only one click to do it. -
Earth Day 2011
I commented that I would have preferred James to have titled this post as ‘How to Float A Bulb in Mid-air’. Here, James took a self portrait while floating a live light bulb with the power of thought. Yes, he ‘thought’ of a clever way to make a live light bulb float in mid-air on earth day. Of course, he was only a few inches from electrocution. That’s why he warned kids not to do this at home.
Video Blogging
- How to Start a Video Blog
This is a very informative 4-part tutorial about how to start your own video blog. Elaborates on the hardware upgrade one needs to be able to handle the heavy duty work, the required software, blogging platform, and other factors to consider.
SEO
- Unusual Traffic Strategies for 2011
This is another very generous post by Kim. She’s known for never holding anything back especially when it comes to sharing her blogging experiences, and to some extent, even her secret seo tricks. Kim is the author of the crazy low priced course/membership called Traffic Dashboard where she again over delivers by spilling out all she knows. Here, she shares ‘3 unusual traffic strategies for 2011’ which most likely you haven’t heard about yet.
There you go folks. Those, so far, are my favorite reads for the month of April.