This is a question most bloggers wonder–especially when they are first getting started. While there are plenty of ideas on exactly how often you should blog, we wanted to know how often you actually are blogging.
As we close in on 100 bloggers having completed the 2008 Indiana Blogger Census, I thought it would be a good time to share a little bit of the data we’re collecting. As you can see from the pie chart, Hoosier bloggers are blogging much more than I had anticipated.
Read the rest of this story over at the Blog Indiana 2008 Conference blog.
Sell photos on photrade | By HamWithCam
Ever since I discovered Photrade.com through their sponsorship of Blog Indiana, I’ve been admiring the service and slowly starting to use it. My main interest in the service is the ability for bloggers to find great photography and easily place it on their blog or website. Many bloggers just grab images from Google Image Search or where ever they can find them without consideration for the legal implications of using photos without permission. With Photrade, the permission is built-in.
On the other side, photographers (professional and amateur) can profit off not only your free usage of their photos, but the integrated marketplace allowing their photos to be licensed/sold at prices they can control. All photos can be watermarked with a custom mark that helps protect everyone’s photos. If someone wants to purchase the right to use your photo without the watermark, Photrade facilitates that purchase in an automated way.
I believe this new service, which is just now in beta, has huge potential. Below, I humbly submit some feedback from what I’ve experienced so far.
- I love the ability to search for blog post images and easily post into my blog. I would love stronger integration the way flickr lets you make blog posts about a photo directly to your self-hosted blog.
- Please, please, please release an API. I think a killer application for Photrade would be a Wordpress plugin that would let me browse Photrade’s database of photos straight from my “Create New Post” screen. Then, just a button click drops the photo into my blog post.
- It would be great if the framing and links that accompany an embedded Photrade photo could be customized. I’d just like to see the style, spacing, and fonts be a little better styled (or give me control).
- The uploader works pretty well and it is fairly fast (as they claim). However, it would be great if they could add some kind of counter letting me know how many photos I’ve uploaded and if any had any errors. Also, once the uploads are done, there is nothing prompting me as to what to do next.
- A more detailed, expanded view of all my photo view activity and their earnings.
- And last but not least… I can’t wait until the Flickr integration is complete! That is what is really keeping me from using Photrade to full potential. I have a pro account at Flickr and use it for ALL my photos. Being able to import photos directly from Flickr would make Photrade my 2nd favorite photo app (maybe my first, depending on the size of my next royalty check!)
Of course, the site is still beta, and is still amazing. I highly suggest you check it out: Photrade.com
While planning for the Blog Indiana conference next month, an idea was put forth about a creative way to have some fun with a normal networking event. The concept involves having people wear “tags” or keywords representing areas of expertise or knowledge they have.
The idea is if everyone wears 2-3 tags, others will easily see who knows what and it will prompt discussions that may not have otherwise happened. We’ve been calling this concept PeopleTagging.
For example, I may see someone at a networking event who is tagged with “videocasting” or “photography.” Both are areas I have an interest in, but am only at the hobbyist level. I would definitely want to strike up a conversation with those two. Whereas, normally in a crowded room of people, I may have never had the chance to randomly start chatting with that person.
This concept may also work well as a replacement for name tags (or word just below/above name tags).
At the Blog Indiana conference next month, we’ll be trying this concept out with actual buttons attendees will get to “tag” themselves with during the conference. Think of it as a conference-long networking booster! You can read more about our plans at our conference blog.
What are some unique activities you’ve seen at networking events?
