Smugmug Blog Alliance

[flyingdutchie]

Originally Posted by Mike Lane

Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link Link

Inbound links mean a lot. I tried to get a cooperative blog thing going but nobody was interested (still looking by the way). I have nearly 600 words or combinations of words that get my page (photos.mikelanestudios.com and mikelane.smugmug.com) "above the fold" on google. The vast majority of them are keywords. My site is linked from quite a few sites (not the least of which is the smugmug homepage by the way). My site is on all my dgrin posts, it's on my old blog that has tons of links to it, it's on my new blog, it's on other forums, it's on www.colorschemers.com, it's everywhere.

Get out there and do things and link back to your site. Google will start to notice I promise you.

Hi Mike. How you're doing?

I understand, but how come that if i google for 'flyingdutchie', google returns some of my posts on dgrin, which contain links to www.streetsofboston.com. But www.streetsofboston.com itself can not be found by google.... That just puzzles me a little. And www.streets-of-boston can be found, which i never posted on any forum (except for the posts in this thread).

BTW: How does that coop-blog thing exactly work?
I'm not much of a blogger (i never had a diary, for example), so how would i make it work?

[Mike Lane]

Originally Posted by flyingdutchie

Hi Mike. How you're doing?

I understand, but how come that if i google for 'flyingdutchie', google returns some of my posts on dgrin, which contain links to www.streetsofboston.com. But www.streetsofboston.com itself can not be found by google.... That just puzzles me a little. And www.streets-of-boston can be found, which i never posted on any forum (except for the posts in this thread).

Admittedly, google is strange and mysterious in certain ways.

Originally Posted by flyingdutchie

BTW: How does that coop-blog thing exactly work?
I'm not much of a blogger (i never had a diary, for example), so how would i make it work?

Well blogs have this thing called a blogroll. Everyone who is in the co-op would also be on the blog roll. Further more everyone who is on the blog roll would also have editor access to a group blog. Not only would we have more access to information that we may not be able to find elsewhere (maybe you've got some links or have read something that I haven't and have posted about it) but if it were interesting to us we could post about it on our own blogs.

I got the idea from the Progressive Blog Alliance. They're political, we wouldn't be. My old blog was on that list and that's why it got way more popular than it deserved to get (I realized that lefty politics will probably do better without my blogging support so now I stay out of the politics arena). Anyhow look on the right side of the PBA central blog and you'll see a huge list of blogs. That same huge list is on every page that list links to. So everyone has hundreds and hundreds of incoming links. Google eats that up and puts them all higher in the search results.

[JamesJWeg]

Originally Posted by Mike Lane

Admittedly, google is strange and mysterious in certain ways.

Well blogs have this thing called a blogroll. Everyone who is in the co-op would also be on the blog roll. Further more everyone who is on the blog roll would also have editor access to a group blog. Not only would we have more access to information that we may not be able to find elsewhere (maybe you've got some links or have read something that I haven't and have posted about it) but if it were interesting to us we could post about it on our own blogs.

I got the idea from the Progressive Blog Alliance. They're political, we wouldn't be. My old blog was on that list and that's why it got way more popular than it deserved to get (I realized that lefty politics will probably do better without my blogging support so now I stay out of the politics arena). Anyhow look on the right side of the PBA central blog and you'll see a huge list of blogs. That same huge list is on every page that list links to. So everyone has hundreds and hundreds of incoming links. Google eats that up and puts them all higher in the search results.

So just how would we have a go at this? I HATE blogs, but for this I could make an exception. Fill us in on the details, I am game.

James.

[flyingdutchie]

Originally Posted by JamesJWeg

So just how would we have a go at this? I HATE blogs, but for this I could make an exception. Fill us in on the details, I am game.

James.

Same here!
I get the idea now. But we need some decent content as well (if i read google's 'rules' correctly: if no reasonable content is present on the blogs, Google may 'ban' the blogroll).

[Mike Lane]

Originally Posted by flyingdutchie

Same here!
I get the idea now. But we need some decent content as well (if i read google's 'rules' correctly: if no reasonable content is present on the blogs, Google may 'ban' the blogroll).

Ya, true dat. And that's the catch. We're going to have to find a way to make sure that people are posting on a regular basis (that includes me!) We don't want to screw ourselves with this. But mostly if people are posting even 2 or 3 times per month it probably won't be considered a link farm. Really, my intent is not to be a big circle jerk by any means. Blogs have the ability to pass on great information about you or the world or photography or whatever. It'd add to the community feel I think and it'd have the extra added benefit of boosting google rankings a wee bit.

I'll separate this out into a new thread (probably already done by the time you read this) and we'll talk about it more.

[Mike Lane]

Okay, this isn't related to smugmug customizations so much but since I'm the mod of this forum, I can post whatever I want in here

I've been pushing for a blog co-op for a while now. So far the reception has been luke warm at best (and my post was buried under the photo association game all the time). This post may explain it a little better and give you some of the benefits. No, it won't probably be named the smugmug blog alliance, I just couldn't think of a better name for right now. It won't be limited to smugmuggers or dgrinners. We will have to come up with some kind of limits and some kind of requirements for participation.

That is all open for discussion right in here.

[flyingdutchie]

Originally Posted by Mike Lane

Okay, this isn't related to smugmug customizations so much but since I'm the mod of this forum, I can post whatever I want in here

I've been pushing for a blog co-op for a while now. So far the reception has been luke warm at best (and my post was buried under the photo association game all the time). This post may explain it a little better and give you some of the benefits. No, it won't probably be named the smugmug blog alliance, I just couldn't think of a better name for right now. It won't be limited to smugmuggers or dgrinners. We will have to come up with some kind of limits and some kind of requirements for participation.

That is all open for discussion right in here.

I have no name for the blog (yet), but maybe an idea.
Why not blog about photo-shooting experiences. Each photographer his/her own style (street, portrait, landscape, models, etc), describing experiences during a shoot: What went right, what went wrong, what happened on the location where the photographer was shooting, confrontations, legal issues, meets with other photographers, etc.

So, no threads about Photoshop techniques, nor about lens reviews, and such. We already can find these on the internet... everywhere. Just experiences during actual photoshoots.

I can imagine the coop-blog may have a name with the word "Lounge". An online place where you sit down for a little while telling your experiences.

[Andy]

Originally Posted by JamesJWeg

I HATE blogs

Have you seen SmugBlogs?

[Mike Lane]

Originally Posted by JamesJWeg

So just how would we have a go at this? I HATE blogs, but for this I could make an exception. Fill us in on the details, I am game.

James.

Okay here are a few basics, people can correct me if I'm wrong.

1. It seems to me that people who are trying to get higher up on google are doing so because they want to get people to look at their site.
2. There may be people of various sides of the political spectrum that want to participate
3. Having a bunch of links about things other than a person's smugmug business or serious hobby (or related interests) will actually muddy the waters

So your blog primarily needs to be about photography or things associated with your photography business. I'm obviously into webdesign as much as photography so a blog that covers webdesign would be allowed. But I don't want someone searching google to not come to my site because they feel that there is some kind of politics attached with it. So no political blogs will be allowed and linking to political blogs is highly discouraged (you can have more than one blog, they're free from lots of different places). In short, let's keep the blogs focused on photography-related topics please. Also, we'd hate to have freeloaders reaping the benefits without participation so there will have to be some kind of minimums and a requirement for the blogroll to be attached somewhere on the blog.

I think photo blogs should be allowed for sure. And like I said if photography is but one part of your business/hobby the rest of your business/hobby is game too.

There are several ways to have free blogs. If you aren't hosting your own website on something like dreamhost or godaddy or whatever, you can get a free blog lots of places. Some of the most popular are:
www.blogger.com
www.wordpress.com
www.livejournal.com
www.typepad.com

You can find a comprehensive list at http://www.google.com/Top/Computers/...Weblogs/Hosts/

There is more stuff at http://del.icio.us/tag/blog

[Barb]

Originally Posted by Mike Lane

Okay here are a few basics, people can correct me if I'm wrong.

1. It seems to me that people who are trying to get higher up on google are doing so because they want to get people to look at their site.
2. There may be people of various sides of the political spectrum that want to participate
3. Having a bunch of links about things other than a person's smugmug business or serious hobby (or related interests) will actually muddy the waters

So your blog primarily needs to be about photography or things associated with your photography business. I'm obviously into webdesign as much as photography so a blog that covers webdesign would be allowed. But I don't want someone searching google to not come to my site because they feel that there is some kind of politics attached with it. So no political blogs will be allowed and linking to political blogs is highly discouraged (you can have more than one blog, they're free from lots of different places). In short, let's keep the blogs focused on photography-related topics please. Also, we'd hate to have freeloaders reaping the benefits without participation so there will have to be some kind of minimums and a requirement for the blogroll to be attached somewhere on the blog.

I think photo blogs should be allowed for sure. And like I said if photography is but one part of your business/hobby the rest of your business/hobby is game too.

There are several ways to have free blogs. If you aren't hosting your own website on something like dreamhost or godaddy or whatever, you can get a free blog lots of places. Some of the most popular are:
www.blogger.com
www.wordpress.com
www.livejournal.com
www.typepad.com

You can find a comprehensive list at http://www.google.com/Top/Computers/...Weblogs/Hosts/

There is more stuff at http://del.icio.us/tag/blog

Ooooo, great idea Mike! I want to play.

[Mike Lane]

Originally Posted by flyingdutchie

I have no name for the blog (yet), but maybe an idea.
Why not blog about photo-shooting experiences. Each photographer his/her own style (street, portrait, landscape, models, etc), describing experiences during a shoot: What went right, what went wrong, what happened on the location where the photographer was shooting, confrontations, legal issues, meets with other photographers, etc.

So, no threads about Photoshop techniques, nor about lens reviews, and such. We already can find these on the internet... everywhere. Just experiences during actual photoshoots.

I can imagine the coop-blog may have a name with the word "Lounge". An online place where you sit down for a little while telling your experiences.

Well I don't want to put too many limitations about what people can post about. The more restrictive we are the fewer people we will have blogging with us. I think that contentious and/or offensive topics should be avoided since this will likely be tied in with people's businesses though.

Lounge can most certainly be a part of the name....

Brainstorming follows:
Photogs Lounge
Photography Lounge
Photographer's Lounge
Photographer's Blog Co-Op

Anyone else have ideas for the group blog name? I'll set it up probably through blogger when we come up with a name.

[flyingdutchie]

Hi all,

I opened a blog at http://streetsofboston.wordpress.com/
I added the homepages on smugmug of everyone who has posted to this thread (so far) to my Other Photographers' Sites link-category, if you all don't mind.

It's a start I have no posts yet, except for a welcome post. But more are to come.

Mike, i'll wait for the coop-blog site that you'll be setting up and i'll add it to the Blogroll links-category.

[Mike Lane]

Originally Posted by flyingdutchie

Hi all,

I opened a blog at http://streetsofboston.wordpress.com/
I added the homepages on smugmug of everyone who has posted to this thread (so far) to my Other Photographers' Sites link-category, if you all don't mind.

It's a start I have no posts yet, except for a welcome post. But more are to come.

Mike, i'll wait for the coop-blog site that you'll be setting up and i'll add it to the Blogroll links-category.

w00t!

[Barb]

Originally Posted by flyingdutchie

Hi all,

I opened a blog at http://streetsofboston.wordpress.com/
I added the homepages on smugmug of everyone who has posted to this thread (so far) to my Other Photographers' Sites link-category, if you all don't mind.

It's a start I have no posts yet, except for a welcome post. But more are to come.

Mike, i'll wait for the coop-blog site that you'll be setting up and i'll add it to the Blogroll links-category.

Nice! Going to start one up myself with WordPress. I'll do the same and link everyone you have :)

[rainforest1155]

Followed the thread for a while and I've recently set up a blog, too. But without any specific topic, so it's more of a what comes to my mind thing. I'm planing on writing some more about my main hobby, photography, but I probably will continue to mix it with other stuff.
I guess this isn't the kind of thing you were after? As I'm doing this just for fun I think I don't want to set up another blog as my current one probably isn't going to be updated very often.
However I'll just add your links to it.


Sebastian

[Barb]

Got mine up and running. Well, maybe not running yet But it's a start!

http://photoscapedesign.wordpress.com/

[rainforest1155]

Originally Posted by DigitalDaze

Got mine up and running. Well, maybe not running yet But it's a start!

http://photoscapedesign.wordpress.com/

Updated my link list and left a comment. :)

Sebastian

[Mike Lane]

Originally Posted by rainforest1155

Followed the thread for a while and I've recently set up a blog, too. But without any specific topic, so it's more of a what comes to my mind thing. I'm planing on writing some more about my main hobby, photography, but I probably will continue to mix it with other stuff.
I guess this isn't the kind of thing you were after? As I'm doing this just for fun I think I don't want to set up another blog as my current one probably isn't going to be updated very often.
However I'll just add your links to it.


Sebastian

I think that wandering thoughts are okay. You're obviously going to have something in there about photography too so that shouldn't be an issue. I suppose that if it were overly political or overly religious (or anti-religious) or in some other way contentious then that's one thing. But I don't think it has to be specifically 100% about photography to qualify.

[Mike Lane]

I'm creating the linkroll via del.icio.us now. Everyone please send me exactly how you'd like to be linked on the linkroll. For instance my link will be like this:

Mike Lane Studios

And on the mouseover you will see "The Blog". Just let me know what you want yours to look like.

[flyingdutchie]

Originally Posted by Mike Lane

I'm creating the linkroll via del.icio.us now. Everyone please send me exactly how you'd like to be linked on the linkroll. For instance my link will be like this:

Mike Lane Studios

And on the mouseover you will see "The Blog". Just let me know what you want yours to look like.

If the linkroll is for blogs:
link: http://streetsofboston.wordpress.com/
Description: Streets Of Boston
Mouseover/title: Its Blog.

If the linkroll is for our smugmug sites:
link: http://www.streetsofboston.com/
Description: Streets Of Boston
Mouseover/title: Its Pictures.