Overview

Sorry about the lack of enthusiasm today. I am still dealing with many sleepless nights thanks to our new puppy. In this episode I cover how I am doing, and how bloggers don’t get enough credit when it comes to creativity in their blogging.

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Show Notes

0:32 – Our New Puppy Means Sleep Deprivation

1:40 – Concentration, Focus and Creativity are Needed for Amazing Blogging

• If you really want to make your mark in the blogosphere, you have to come up with something new, innovative, or at least original.
• Sleep deprivation lowers quality of work

3:05 – Creativity in Blogging Deserves More Press

• People don’t understand what many of really us do

3:30 – Wrap-up and hint about some big news

Intro and Exit Music

Wired for Loud by David Henderson, found via PodsafeAudio

Originally posted on April 21, 2008 @ 1:11 pm

Overview

Today, I talk a little about the history of this blog, reminding everyone to pursue their passions, no matter how crowded a subject may seem.

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Show Notes

0:29 – Why I Started Xfep.com

• Lack of support from friends
• Unique perspective on blogging

1:39 – Xfep’s Ranking

• 45n5.com/top100
• Started at 120 of 150
• Getting into the Top 100
• Currently at 17

2:21 – Niche Saturation is Irrelivant

• If you can put your personal twist on it, you can be successful
• Build a brand
• It isn’t easy though

3:23 – Getting Noticed

• Don’t let anyone tell you its impossible to rank well in a niche
• Share your passions

3:50 – Wrap-up

• I will be on the WordPress Weekly Podcast May 2nd, 9pm EST

Intro and Exit Music

Wired for Loud by David Henderson, found via PodsafeAudio

Originally posted on April 24, 2008 @ 8:26 pm

James and I haven’t done a TechCanuck podcast in a while, and so we were well overdue. We love working together on talking about technology, the web, and everything related to it.

Head on over to dailypixel to have a listen and let me know what you think.

Show Notes:
a) The rise of ad networks – Six Apart announces that they are morphing into Six Apart Media an advertising network for blog publishers and it will compete directly with Glam Media and Federated Media. Also, Glam cuts its rates and what does that mean for new players and how do players like Adify which is letting everyone roll their own advertising network like Forbes fit into the mix?

b) The Top 100 Global Brand rankings were just released and Google is the world’s #1 ranked brand. Coca-Cola which held that spot for many years has officially given way to a wave of technology companies. We discuss the trends.

c) Shyftr started a debate about how much of blogging content could be syndicated without upsetting the content creators. Is this a symptom of a larger issue – ie, is blog content a commodity, and if so, what is it worth in an era of aggregation and off-site conversation?

d) Microsoft-Yahoo, what the heck is going on here? Who has the most to lose if a deal isn’t consummated soon? We discuss.

It was definitely a fun episode, and while my mic quality seems to be a little low, I hope you will all enjoy it.

Originally posted on April 24, 2008 @ 3:21 pm

Overview

Hosting is the big issue I have been working out lately. I have been reading all about various hosting providers, and trying to figure out how to consolidate all of my projects onto one server that is easy to manage and powerful.

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Show Notes

0:28 – Hosting

• Hosting from home is usually against ISP Terms of Service
• Wasn’t a fan of Dreamhost
• I don’t like custom control panels

1:31 – Hosts I Currently Use

• Vortexhost
• HostGator
• HostGator’s Online Support Review
• Mosso

3:30 – Looking at Getting a VPS

• Cloud Server options?
• Media Temple is not on my list
• Wired Tree

4:25 – Managing a VPS

• SSH
• Subversion
• Updating WordPress Blogs using Subversion

5:56 – Wrap-up

Intro and Exit Music

Wired for Loud by David Henderson, found via PodsafeAudio

Originally posted on April 23, 2008 @ 8:07 pm