I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God
so that you may know that you have eternal life. [1 John 5:13]

Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label facebook. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Gadgets and Stats and Blogging, Oh My!


Far from being an expert at any of the "high-techie" aspects of blogging, I do pick up some tricks of the trade along the way. If I see something that I think is interesting and/or could be helpful in my desire to "spread the news" about my blog posts, I try to figure it out, look for tutorials on-line, or just plain ask the person with the fuction I would like to have how to do it.

I haven't had anyone tell me to figure it out on my own! Quite the contrary! I have found without exception that bloggers are very helpful and supportive of each other. So I am going to act in kind and share the few tips I've learned in an effort to pay it forward -- or backward -- or whatever:-)

*I installed a gadget called a Stat Counter on each of my blogs. It measures how many visitors I have at each blog on a daily, weekly, monthly basis and since I began the blog. I didn't do this because I wanted to feel good (or not so good as the case may be:-) about myself. I am, of course, interested in knowing how many people I'm reachng, but I had another reason:

*****I am going to track over time which blogs have the highest traffic on certain days. In other words, so far one of my blogs had almost double the normal number of hits on both Saturday and Monday. I'm going to track the pattern for a few weeks on a the blogs.
*****Once I determine the heaviest days in terms of visitors, I'm going to post some "teaser" posts or begin a series on one of the heavier traffic days. Then I'll announce that the next installment will be published on XXX, one of the less busy days. My hope is that this will bring visitors back to the blog more often.

*I also recently installed a Share This button. Each time I make a new post I click on this button and a window opens to allow me to share my post (post a link) at several (many) social networking sites including, myspace.com, facebook.com, twitter and others. That means that every time I post something, a host of people will receive notice of it and I don't have to email people or manualy post a link on all these sites.

I have been offering my services locally to help other Christian writers set up their blogs, help them with functionality, etc. As I stated, I am far, far from an expert! But I have more than a basic understanding and am more than willing to help others. We're all in this together!


Watch for the lightbulb in future posts! These will be the posts where I share the "cool stuff" I've discovered. If there is a function or a feature you would like me to look into, leave me a comment. I'm game to try to figure it out!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

JUST THE ROOF

God is so very good! Since my book has been published I have been praying about a women's ministry or mission activity to which I could contribute a portion of the proceeds from book sales.



This morning in our worship service 4 of the young college men of our church were home for spring break and told us about a mission project they are undertaking. It's called Just the Roof. I'm going to be donating $1 from the sale of every book to this cause.

Like many issues in the world, this is a complicated one. From this Washington Post article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/25/AR2008122501198.html?nav=hcmodule&sid=ST2008122600004&s_pos=


"For nearly four decades, Togo suffered under the rule of Gnassingbé Eyadéma, a president who suffocated his country politically and economically until he died in 2005. His son, Faure Gnassingbé, is now president.

In the countryside, where 90 percent of the people are impoverished, many girls see hope in the capital, where only a quarter of the population lives in poverty, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Some leave the country altogether, seeing Nigeria -- where the per capita annual income is $2,100, compared with Togo's $900 -- as a land of opportunity."

Young girls are often given away into forced marriages or sent away from home to live with relatives or others in neighboring villages where they end up entering a life of prostitution or virtual slavery to survive.



Just the Roof raises money for dormitories for the girls so they can get an education and have a place to live. It offers them an opportunity to make a life for themselves.



http://apps.facebook.com/causes/147407?m=3f1cca43 This group on Facebook.com would like to raise $30,000. This will provide housing for 30+ girls and their teachers for one year. The brother of one of these young men is currently working in Togo with the Peace Corps.





Click on the link above to join this cause. Or buy Woman At The Well!