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I just read an article about Gmail’s latest outage.  It was the title that caught my eye: “Why you should be glad about Gmail failures.”  As someone who is using Gmail, the title kind of got my proverbial goat.  As it turns out, the article was less about boasting on Gmail’s failures and more about how Google has the opportunity to learn from its high profile mistakes.  Although I still have my reservations about Google’s low profile issues, it does seem as if when problems hit in the public’s eye, lessons do get learned.

While reading this article, it reminded me of my many mistakes in blogging through the years.  Some were fixed with a relative lack of difficulty while others I have yet to have the courage to find a fix.  In this article I would like to be candid and share some of those mistakes and some of the fixes and changes I have enacted since.

(1)  The topic

When I began blogging at the domain timmyjohnboy.com I was using it as a personal blog.  The topic basically changed with my whims.  I wrote about whatever I wanted to.  This ended up being a mistake because I not only didn’t reach any goals for my blog, but the goals in and of themselves were vague.

This did not help Google Adsense serve relevant ads.  It also did not help with SEO.  Without a specific topic for the blog, I wasn’t doing so hot with the search engines.

Since then, I took the time to choose a topic I love enough and one with which I have passion and began to create content on that topic.  Choosing a niche helped me participate in the conversation with others in similar niches.  I was able to find people with similar interests.  Although not perfect yet, my ranks have at least begun to grow.  Google Adsense now comes across a bit less confused.

Is your blog more of a personal one, or does it revolve around a specific topic or niche?

(2) The Goals

When I began to blog, I really didn’t have much of a goal.  It was more getting things off my chest.  I did gain a love for writing and I did meet some interesting people.  But I didn’t have real goals to meet by blogging.

Since then I have been blogging in order to do a few things, one of which is to strengthen my authority in my niche.  This means that I am not only learning more about my niche, but I am also showing my own current aptitude.  I am also working on my writing style.  The more I write, the better I get at communicating.  Although I have not quite arrived in the place where all my goals are met, I do have a reason for blogging and my goals are being achieved.

What are your goals for blogging?

(3) The Domain Name

The name actually came from a nick name my father gave me when I was young.  Basically with a first name Tim and a middle name John and an apparent like for the Waltons as a television show, the name came together as TimJohnBoy or TimmyJohnBoy.  I began using it online when I first started using webmail and I’ve been using it ever since.

I haven’t actually decided if this has been a bad choice for the domain name.  On one hand, it really has nothing to do with technology, computers or the Internet.  On the other hand, using my own name in the domain can aid in strengthening my name’s “brand” or “authority.”  What I mean by this is that it can strengthen the tie between my name and the topic  that I write about.  For instance, although he may see his domain choice as being a mistake, it is difficult to hear John Chow’s name without thinking about the blogging about blogging niche, right?

You tell me, is my choice of domain name a mistake?

We all have made mistakes.  It is only when we see what we can learn from them that we learn how to grow.  Sometimes we CAN be glad about our failures!

Today I want to do little more than share a list of sites I think you’ll find helpful.  I hope you get as much out of these sites as I do (in no specific order):

1. unclutterer.com – Visit this site to find ways to unclutter your life (who doesn’t need that?)
2. WebWorkerDaily.com – This site is all about working remotely but there are many cool tips anyone can use
3. MakeUseOf.com – MakeUseOf is all about sharing tips and tools you can use (you may end up seeing some posts by yours truly)
4. Bill Mullin’s Weblog – Tech Thoughts – Good guy who knows his computer stuff, find tech thoughts by a real master
5. YFNCG.com – Really neat blog about Matt’s road to beginning his own home-based computer support business (learn as he does)
6. Tech – for Everyone – Tech tips and tricks & advice – written in plain English
7. ClearTechInfo.com – Beginner’s guide on computers, Internet, and technology
8. LifeHacker.com – Tips and downloads to get things done

What sites do you regularly follow?  Share in the comments!

Today I’ve been looking around looking for tutorials on how to use WordPress for a friend of mine who is going to be running a site I’m putting together for him.  I was planning on putting together the tutorials myself, but I figured that if someone else has done the same thing, why reinvent the wheel?

Well, while on my search, I came across WordPress.tv which, as it turns out, is a pretty cool site!  It’s chalked full of videos not only showing how to do stuff on WordPress, but also introducing new features and products and other talks on WordPress related topics.

Well, as it also turns out, WordPress happens to have some good screencasters!  For instance, a while back I wanted to introduce readers to the use of Gravatars or globally recognized avatars.  WordPress.tv has a good tutorial on how to set up your very own Gravatar:

There’s also a good tutorial on how to write blog posts using WordPress:

And here is a very recent speech by Matt in Japan talking about the future of WordPress and some other projects like the P2 theme and BuddyPress:

If you are at all into WordPress or blogging or even want to be, check out WordPress.tv!