Crystal Writes A Blog

Can Pro-Blogger Help Me?

Okay, so I’m about to take a plunge and take advantage of the current sale at Pro-Blogger where I can actually learn about this blogging and SEO stuff instead of just doing it by the seat of my pants. I plan to start with the “31 Days to Build a Better Blog” ebook, and I plan to share the basics of what I learn here (without infringing copyright, of course). To make things easier, I’ll link to the Pro-Blogger site from here in case anyone else thinks this can help you too.

What I’ve done to this point is start multiple blog sites, Facebook pages, and other sharing points around the Internet. I have three blogs right here at Crystal Writes (the main blog, the import of my old Yahoo 360 blog, and an image blog I haven’t used yet); the blog I started for my Morning Writer project that found its stagnation in a neck injury and two surgeries; and then the page I set up at Shoutlife (http://www.shoutlife.com/crystalwriter), a social networking site specifically for Christians. My main website, largely static but with an important message, is http://www.41soul.com. And then I’ve got some articles on my Scribd page at http://www.scribd.com/crystalwriter. Of course, I have my Twitter feed, and I have my photo blog at Flickr. Flickr is the one I’ve kept up the most because I love to share the colorful kaleidoscopes and tessellations that I create.

Everything I listed above is important to me, but I also have some extra stuff I’ve done with a hope that I can share the vast prism of facets that describe all of my interests. I have a page on Facebook dedicated to my poem, The Lord is My Editor. I have another undeveloped image page on Facebook. And I have my main site on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/crystalwriter where I spend most of my interactive time. Beyond that, I have groups on both Yahoo and Facebook, custom product pages at Zazzle and Cafepress, and a page on Linked In. Oh, and then there is my very first home page on AngelFire, created when I was still using Web TV. Actually, there are two on Angel Fire since I had a newsletter/group called “God’s Kitchen Sink” and had created a page to archive the old articles.

I am also the webmaster and Facebook pagemaster for our local Christian writer’s group, Louisville Christian Writers, and I do what I can to help other writers in their quests to be published as well as in helping them to learn how to tackle all the technical aspects of having a cyber presence without overwhelming them with technical jargon. This is in addition to being the president of the group and often the newsletter editor if we put one out.

Oh yeah, and then to add some variety to my life (LOL), I decided to start writing for Squidoo. And I should probably consider going back to my Epinions page to share product reviews again since I regularly read reviews to know what I want to purchase. Wait… if I add what I do with reviews, then I must consider my reviews on Amazon and Goodreads as well. And what about my videos at YouTube and Viddler? Yikes, and I wonder why my time seems so limited and why I can’t seem to catch up on stuff. How did I ever play Facebook games before I realized what a terrible time-grabber they had become?

So, I presented all of the above to reach out for opinions and help in finding my focus. I love all of these worlds I’ve built online, and they don’t even cover all the dreams I have for my future–like my design for my own card company and the idea I have for a very unique drop-shipping company. Of course, I want to put together a presentation for helping Christian writers find their place in web land as well, and I already have an outline done on that one along with interest from a web producer who might back the publication. And I can’t forget about my novels. I’ll do a post on their synopses later and gather opinions, but most of them are very rough draft stories put together from former years of doing NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writers Month) contests.

Needless to say, when I add all of these together, mix them with daily living and throw in a strong dose of reading (from Bible reading, to blogs I follow, to lots of books by friends, in addition to thousands of e-mails plus articles I find linked from Twitter & Pinterest), I’m swamped. And then there’s time to take and edit photos, plan for a home sale and moving, and keep in touch with out-of-town family. I’m supposed to be learning how to submit my writing, but just getting stuff written in all these areas is overwhelming, ya know? And then all these people want me to join, follow, or recommend them on Klout and other social influence tools, and I’m thinking how I just can’t figure out how to add one more tool, app, blog, etc., to my plans. But, do I need to put all this stuff into Klout to verify my own level of influence? Or, do I need to just keep with the message of my main page and live every moment as if it could be “for one soul”?

I look forward to your comments, but I’m going to also do my best to follow the instructions from the new e-book and see if I can get this blog regularly active. If you want to see what the book has to say for yourself, you can consider purchasing it from Pro-Blogger through E-Junkie by clicking here. If you buy a copy for yourself and you find any tools that work quickly and without having to read many pages, please share the tips and tricks with me to save me a little bit of time. 🙂 Thanks!

December 4, 2012 - Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) | Nonfiction | blogging, catching up, help, learning, Pro-Blogger, time-management