Google Docs

Google acquired word processing and spreadsheet technology from other companies. They then integrated these apps into a suite. Recently the suite has been rewritten to focus on collaboration functionality. The collaboration works in real time. Two people can work on the same document at the same time. The changes are merged instantaneously.

The entire application suite is called Google Apps. The key apps for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation is called Google Docs. The new versions ensure that Microsoft Word documents keep their formatting when opened in Google’s app. The Google spreadsheet functionality does not have all the features of Microsoft Excel. Power users are expected to stick with Excel. This might be the pattern of the future. Power users keep Microsoft Office.

One drawback with the new versions from Google is that you must be connected to the net for them to run. There are reportedly 25 million Google app accounts out there. The costs are $50 per year for each user. Microsoft will need to provide an online option in Office 2010 to stay relevant.

Big Payout

Yesterday I posted a new entry on my Micro ISV blog about iPhone development. It had been a long time since I had any posts there. Then a wonderful thing happened. There were a lot of clicks on that blog.

I have AdSense enabled on the blog. Here is the weird thing. Today I only got 3 page impressions from my Micro ISV blog. Since I display 3 ads per page of the blog, 3 impressions means there was only 1 view of the actual blog. However that generated a monster 8 clicks.

Most of the time I get image ads displayed on my Micro ISV blog. The image takes up the whole ad. So that makes it next to impossible to generate 8 clicks from 3 ads. Normally when you click on an ad, it takes your browser to the page that sponsored the ad. Somebody must have purposefully visited my blog, and clicked each of the links to open in a new window. This is very strange.

I am not complaining too much. The 8 clicks netted me an $8.64 profit for the day. Now if only I can keep that up. Perhaps the clicks came because my blog post entry was original. Or maybe I wrote the latest entry in a manner that made people want to click the ads. The most likely reason is that this was a fluke. Let's see how I do tomorrow.

Becoming a Writer

I just read an article on how to become a better writer. In my world, that means how do you become a better bloggers. Let's check out the advice of the legendary authors.

Choose short words over long. Use the active voice over passive. Break the rules when necessary. Shorter is better.

Write out what you have to say. Know it can take forever to learn to write well. Your characters should want something. And bad things should happen to then.

Give a lot of info. But cut out as much as possible, especially with descriptions. There should be no prologue. Dialog should just use "said". Avoid exclamation points.

If the reader is going to skip something you write, leave it out. Rewrite only for editorial purposes. Get to the point. Read a lot. Then write a lot. Got it?

Success in Blogging

It is tough to have a successful blog. You need to do a number of things to even have a chance. You should be unique. You also have to get the time to regularly post. Get your own domain name. Then do not change it.

Be original and professional. You blog should have a short bio on yourself. It should also provide a way to contact you. I am not too good in these two areas.

You need to get out in the online community for people to notice you. Do that by becoming active in other blogs. Be active in forums as well. Don’t go for volume. Be active and respected in a few places online.

In addition to having an online presence, you need to meet in person as well. You should attend some live events such as tech events. Then go meet and talk to people. Be direct. Let them know who you are and what you want. It is ok to sell to people. Bring your business cards.

The Google Effect

Google has a lot of great free products. I make use of a number of them. However I just read an article about a dude who uses Google tools all day long. Let’s look at some of these tools.

Gmail is the big winner at Google. You get a whole lot of space. It is free. The ads are not too noticeable. Then we have Google Reader. That let’s me track a number of blogs efficiently.

As you can see and probably know, I use Google AdSense to place ads on my blog. There is also AdWords if you want to pay to advertise. I personally do not buy ads on the Google network. Another tool I don’t use is Google News.

Google Maps is another one of the popular tools from Google. I don’t use it. I also don’t use or know much about Google Talk. I am slowly trying out new Google tools. I love the price. And everything is accessible on the web which is convenient.

Wordpress Basics

Blogging is a mainstream activity. There are many choices of blogging platforms. These include Blogger, Typepad, and WordPress. Today I discuss WordPress. My information comes from a book on being a great WordPress designer. I skimmed the table of contents and read the first chapter. So this will be an overview.

WordPress is highly customizable. Many content management systems (CMS) advertise customization. However almost everything in WordPress can be customized. This makes for an ultra flexible CMS.

WordPress is an open source product. It is written in the PHP programming language. The WordPress.com sight is a hosted version of WordPress. Therefore you cannot do heavy customization of the product on that sight.

WordPress.org is the home for the open source software. Note that WordPress needs MySQL to run. MySQL is an open source database management system. An important plugin for WordPress is Akismet, which is a spam filter.

Themes are customizations consisting of PHP and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) files. Linkbacks are other sites linking to your page. Linkbacks are also known as pingbacks or trackbacks. The WordPress documentation is called the WordPress Codex. It is available online.

The default WordPress installation comes with same posts. Delete them before your site goes live. I exclusively use Blogger. But I like checking out the competition occasionally.

Disclosure Required

The FTC is now requiring that bloggers fully disclose their relationships with vendors they promote. In other words, you had better let people know what type of freebies you are getting before you hype up the company. This can include to gifts that enable you to go to conferences as well. I wish I had such perks myself.

Here is what is strange about the FTC guidance. It only applies online. Print media does not have the same restrictions. So let me get this straight. I can put out a print article where I sell my soul to a company, but I don't need to come clean about it? That sounds like the web is getting a stricter rule applied to it.

This is ok. I don't receive any gifts from anyone. So I don't have to disclose anything. I run another blog where I complain most of the time. Therefore there is no room for conflict of interest. Let's see how this FTC guidance plays out in the year to come.