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Register For Blogging While Brown 2009

By on February 2, 2009 in Blogging

Did you make it to Blogging While Brown last year? The second annual Blogging While Brown conference for bloggers of color graces the Windy City this year. Click the logo and reserve your spot for the weekend of June 19-20.

Last year’s innaugural event in Atlanta was a hit from all indications of my fellow Afrospear bloggers. Gotta find some money to get there myself this time.

There’s going to be a blogger’s boot camp that I don’t want to miss. I’ve been doing this for a few years but there’s still a lot I don’t know. Twenty-oh-nine would be a good year to close my personal knowledge gap. What about you? See you in Chicago in a few months?

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Have You Created Your Amazon.com Account?

By on January 12, 2009 in Blogging, Business

If you’re looking for a profitable way to clear off your bookshelves, or clear out your book bag in the case of college students, here’s a good way to do it. Register with Amazon to help you move your stuff. So far I have sold two used text books and one from my personal collection. I have earned $130.75 and still have more than twenty other books listed. All this action within a week of setting up my Individual Seller account.

You can sell anything through the account. In my case it’s just books for now but you can sell just about any category of item that may be lying around your house. You also have to enter bank account information so Amazon can electronically deposit your profit. I actually have a company that I use as an umbrella for any number of profit making opportunities that may come my way and a bank account tied to it. Be sure to use your business account separately from your person account to avoid co-mingling of funds. Just as with anything in life, keep business matters and personal matters separate.

So how does it all work? When someone buys one of your products you get an email to ship it within two days. You can print a combination mailing label and packing slip for the order. I always cut the buyer’s mailing label off the top of the sheet of paper and tape it to the envelope. The rest of it is the packing slip that goes inside with the book. For my book inventory I keep various sized cushioned shipping envelopes on hand. I bought a few each of three different sizes to pack various sized books. Wal-Mart has the type made from recycled materials. Go green and go cheap on your expenses at the same time. Then ship it according to the time option chosen by the customer.

Now the main question of course is how do you create an Amazon account? Here’s how it’s done. Go to amazon.com and look for the New customer? Start here link at the top of the page. The next page will allow you to enter your e-mail address. Then you click on the No, I am a new customer button and enter a password.

From there you go to the bottom of the next page where Business Programs are listed. The first option, Sell on Amazon, is the one you’ll pick to get started. Then click the Click here link to sign up as an Individual Seller and you’re on your way. It is e-commerce made easy.

They also have other options if you have a larger company or if you’re an established entrepreneur. If you have sizeable inventory and you want to use their warehousing infrastructure then Fulfillment by Amazon is best. If you publish your own books, music or DVD’s then the Advantage is worth checking into. If you want to try cost-per-click bids then Product Adds are the thing. Or if you simply want your own e-commerce site then investigate Webstore by Amazon.

As you can see there are many options to choose from but it’s easiest to get a feel for things with the free Individual Seller account. Here’s what I’m doing with my account so far. When I’m ready to add an item, I simply locate the category I want from the menu, in my case books. Then I enter the ISBN number and if there is already a book image it will show up. If you’re the first person to list a particular title and it doesn’t show an image don’t worry. It will still list because it’s the ISBN that is the most important identifier for a book. From that point I set the price and quantity of each and I check the shipping options that I offer. There’s also a section for describing the condition of the book to help you market it.

After you have established an account, when you log back in for future sessions you can just click on the Your Account link in the right corner of the site and it will allow you to log in directly to the commerce section of the Amazon site. In the box to the right it will show you who you are signed on as, then in the Your Other Accounts box bellow it click on Your Seller Account and you’re back to it again.

That’s all there is to it. Whether you’re spring cleaning or looking for a new business venture I recommend an Amazon.com account to help you make it happen.

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Facebook Friends Confirmation

By on January 3, 2009 in Blogging

Is the facebook friends confirmation slow or what? Facebook has updated the system since the last time I poked around in it and now it seems to take a a few delayed moments to add somebody to your friends list. It’s not instantaneous like the other features of the facebook system.

When you click the “add a friend” button it asks you to enter the secret code but there isn’t actually one there initially. The Security Check box just sits there and takes a minute before the verification code finally pops up. I’m not sure why it dawdles like that but if you’re not patient you might figure something is wrong, quit the application and try again later, like I did a couple of times.

It so happens that I sat there just long enough one time pondering what the issue could be and the rest of the validation screen finally appeared. You have two words separated by a space that you type in and then the friend is added.

Other than that inconvenience I am working facebook like a champ this year. Don’t have an account already? Go ahead and add one now and you can add me as a friend. I’m taking social networking to a new level this year. How about you?

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Let Your Blog Chew on Some Chicklets

By on March 7, 2008 in Blogging, SEO

I found a link that lets you add RSS feed reader buttons (a.k.a. “chicklets”) to your site. Go to Top Rank Online Marketing’s blog site and create an account. It will let you check the brands of feeds you want to have for your readers. Then it generates an HTML script based on your selection that you can copy and paste into your site.

For those of you who already have a chicklet library give me some feedback. Which ones are the most popular or recommended to have? They all look good. I was going to cruise thru some of you guys sites that I read regularly and see what you have. Any thoughts on web sites with articles on the subject or is a random selection of 5-10 a good way to start?

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Another Quick YouTube Hint

By on January 30, 2008 in Blogging, Business, Faith, Music, Programming/Coding, Society

If you see a video on somebody’s blog that you want to copy to your own, here’s an easy way to do it. Just click on the “menu” button at the bottm right corner of the video player. You’ll see a section on the next screen on the right side that reads “<> embed”. Just highlight that code, copy it and paste it into your post.

You should still go to YouTube though and create an account so you can build your own video play list. You can do this for yourself or your group, then archive whatever interests you. They have everything, music, commercials, personal short movies, church sermons, organizations like my fellow Toastmasters who tape their meetings…you name it, it’s probably there.

If you do a daily or weekly Funk and Roll entry on your blog like I do, just pick your favorite songs from your list and add them in. Do you want to share your favorite silly commercials with the world. O.K. do that. I’m sure dozens of copies of the new Super Bowl adds will be up during the game on Sunday. It you and some friends want to be the next Spike Speilberg pull out your digital recorder and put your own material out there for the world to see. It’s definitely the easy way for churches to archive their sermons and share the word of God with the world on your church web sites each Sunday. And if you want prospective members to get a feel for your organization send them to your group’s web site or blog and tell them to check the video of our last meeting.

So check out this feature on the next YouTube clip that catches your eye or ear and take your multimedia skills up a notch.

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Blogging While Brown Set for July 2008

By on October 2, 2007 in Blogging, General Interest

The name is a play on words. It’s derived from the phrase “driving while Black” which describes the sometimes apparently random pullovers of African American drivers by the police. Well the phrase has been dumped on it’s head and the connotation redefined in positive fashion.

Set your sights and savings accounts on Hotlanta for the middle of next year. Plans continue for the first really big gathering of Black bloggers and those who wish to be. Sign up for the conference call at the link and join in on the detailed planning. If you have a specialty then give a workshop. There’s plenty of other stuff to do as well.

Check out the wiki and sign up for the RSS feed too. More info is being posted now that the planning team has the date and host hotel set. Get the word out and pass the news on to your friends. Post a story with a link like I’m doing now. You know you want to meet Paula Mooney and Theo Johnson just like everybody else does. Well I have it on good authority that they might be there so you be there too and hang out and learn.

I’m going to give you guys a serious actionist tip too. Read “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman before the conference. I’ve read it and I got a chance to hear him speak at Auburn University’s lecture series this afternoon. One of his major theses is that we’re living in a historic time of flattenting forces. Guess what Black bloggers, you’re part of the historic epoch. We won’t realize our impact for another ten years but you won’t truly be a part of the impact if you’re not in Atlanta next July.

I love ya like virtual brothers and sisters. We’ll do an in-person group hug nine months from now.

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Check Out the Ning and Nexo Do It Yourself Social Networks

By on September 4, 2007 in Blogging

PC World’s June issue has a geat review on two build your own social network offerings. If you aspire to have your own site at no cost for your personally defined group one of these can probably get you there. Sounds like true actionist software.

Both of them have a variety of design templates and according to the article you should be able to have something operable and running in a half hour. Ning was cofounded by Netscape pioneer Marc Andreesen. If you know Cascading Style Sheets you’ll probably like working with this program.

The reviewer said Nexo didn’t allow as much flexibility but the one advantage it had over Ning – for now- is that it didn’t have adds built into it. CEO Caraig Jorasch says that will probably change in the last quarter of the year though. It also offers more pre-programmed modules than Ning.

The main thing though is to check out both and compare for yourself. You might build the next MySpace or Facebook. Or if smaller scaled visions of granduer will suffice just be sure to make your thing what you need it to be, the way you need it.

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Sign Up for the Blogging While Brown Conference

By on August 22, 2007 in Blogging, General Interest

The first major conference for bloggers of color is in the planning stages. From preliminary posts at the Blogging While Brown blog site it’s destined to be a hit.

The comments include the dearth of bloggers of African and other descent (African, African American, South American, Carribean, Middle Eastern, Asian, Persian, Afro-European) in significant numbers at other more well known blogger meet-ups. This effort will help to rectify that and do a better job of presenting the interests and broader perspective present in the blgosphere as is reflected in the world.

I’m excited about what the planners have on tap so far. I’ve submitted my suggestions based on a couple of teleconferences I’ve had with other African American bloggers in recent months. The potential to leverage our talents on an international scale is truly immeasurable.

So what would you like to learn and who would you like to see at the first ever Blogging While Brown conference? Go to the link and chime in with questions and suggestions. Maybe next year WE will see YOU in Hot-lanta and explore and expand the possibilities together!

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