PostRanger.com

Let Google be your guide

Want to sign up as a guest author or maybe you already have signed up and can’t figure out what to write.

There’s a great trick that can put loads of post topics in your e-mail inbox daily and keep you supplied with possible subject matter for weeks to come in your particular area of interest.

I’m talking, of course, about Google Alerts and they’re easy to use and becoming a common tool in most professional newspapers so you’re borrowing from the best.

Here’s how to get started:

·        Go to the Google Alert page found here

·        Under “Create a Google Alert” enter the e-mail address where you would like all the Google Alerts sent.

·        If you can, it’s best to single out an individual folder to which alerts are directly delivered. This will keep you from missing important alerts among all your other e-mails and make it easy to bulk erase all older alerts at once.

·        Fill in the search term. For example “World News” if that’s one of the streams that interests you.

·        Select the types of documents on a given subject you are interested in receiving: news, blogs, web, video, groups (It’s generally best to choose “comprehensive” so you wind up with a smattering of what’s out there)

·        Select how often you would like to receive them daily.

·        Create the alert.

Google Alerts can be better than random search info for your posts because:

• The information is generally more timely and allows you to lead your post with something new.
• There is a temptation when searching for information to use the same websites particularly those in your blogroll and in your reader.
• Google Alert searches find you a wide variety of blogs, news releases, websites and other up-to-date information from all over the web.
• The Google Alert function may turn you on to new websites and blogs on your topic that you might never have otherwise found even in a random Google or Yahoo! Search because it is based on updates not just PageRank.
• You are less likely to find out dated and old links, websites and blogs that may contain too much outdated information to be really useful.

To get involved with PostRanger.com as a regular guest author and help build our community while also gaining increased back links to your site and benefit from sharing our traffic send an e-mail with your stream topic of choice. We’ll send you an invitation for a free account to get you started. Join us today!

Photo Credit: Clare Natoli, MorgueFile

Don't think. Just post

It’s hard for me to say it coming from a background in traditional writing.

But the fact is that in the new media more is always…well…more, so staring at a blank page is not the way to gain an audience.

We’ve got a growing number of guest authors joining our “streams” but contributions are somewhat slower in coming.

Here are five good reasons not to think too hard about that first post whether written, audio or video when contributing here at postranger.com or at any other similar social blogging network or community:

1. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. Some aspects of blogging are more like speech than writing. The difference is that you almost never get to quickly read over what you’re about to say before speaking. You just say it and take the consequences.
2. Get them accustomed to the sound of your voice. When submitting a manuscript to a publisher, you have only one chance to make a good impression. In social media, you have thousands. Get them used to the sound of your voice. When you have something important to say, they’ll be listening.
3. It’s a numbers game, and the more the better. When I started gingerly making posts to the web, I wanted every one to be perfect like a tiny jewel without flaw. But I soon discovered that unforgiving search engines weren’t capable of understanding the merit of my work only the number of times I posted. Having more posts out there means more chances for readers to discover the merit of you work for themselves.
4. The world is your editor so think first draft. You have no perfectionist peering over your shoulder. In most cases you’re the only editor you’ll ever have…before you hit the save button, that is. Don’t worry. You won’t suck. There’s a million independent editors out there who will tell you exactly what’s wrong with your post and how to fix it.
5. Experience is the greatest teacher. This is why in many media jobs it takes so long to get better. Opportunities to write and create remain few and far between and beginners are rarely trusted with important assignments. One thing repeated posts will teach you is what works and what doesn’t. Trial and error is the best way to learn so just get started.

If you would like to join us as a guest author here at PostRanger.com, read this post and then drop us an e-mail. We’ll send you a personal invitation to get you started. It’s absolutely free!

Photo Assignment: Clarita, MorgueFile