Yay, for Windows Live Writer and Zemanta

 

    
I have been pretty useless as far as keeping up my blogging has been concerned recently – in fact, was never much good at it. However, I am now using Windows Live Writer and I have rediscovered the Zemanta browser add-on.

Images via Wikipedia and CrunchBase

 

Zemanta’s is now available as a Live Writer plug in and is a great resources for finding links, posts and images that reflect the content of your post and they worry about the copyright.

 

 

For example, let’s say I mention Libya in my blog, Zemanta suggests several images taken from Wikimedia Commons, Flickr and various stock photo providers related to Libya. It also provides the hyperlinks for Windows Live Writer, Zemanta and Libya in the copy above AND it provides links to some related articles if your readers want to follow up. 

 

 

 

 

 

Related articles

• Random Flickr Image via Zemanta; experiment ensues (quantumxen.net)
• Zemanta for Better Content and More Traffic (alwaysbcmom.com)
• Five Useful Blog Editors (blogs.sitepoint.com)
• Libya Endgame (stephencrose.wordpress.com)

 

 

 

 

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AOR (All Over The Road

Pay Per Post–continued

Ok, so I’ve set up my Pay Per Post account. Confirmed it by writing a random sentence in a blog post and …. no advertisers and what seems like a fairly p***sed off community of users. I’ll give it a while and see if things improve. Shame if they don’t ‘cos I thought it was a great idea. I had visions of reviewing ground-breaking software, services or products AND getting paid for my opinions. And I thought it might drive traffic to my site. Well, will just have to hope that first impressions aren’t true.

Pay Per Post

I've decided to look into the model of customer generated advertising. To this end, I have signed up to Pay Per Post. In the coming days and weeks, I will see if this compromises or complements my blog content. To activate the account, I need to prove that I own this blog. To prove that I must add the following random sentence somewhere in a post: A climate mangles a rush myth.
Let's see what types of advertisers I can choose to blog about. I'll let you know how it goes.

Recent online discoveries

This week, I've been lucky to find a great new site. Ok, so the French site is not new but the UK one is.
It's called My Major Company.
I've always been keen to discover new music outside the traditional A&R trash that's shoved down the public's throats on MTV and the radio waves. The IAC (Independent Artists Company) player at the top of my blog is testament to that. I love the fact that the artists get to keep every single penny when punters buy their music for download from the site. And I love the fact that I get to hear new music that might never get heard otherwise. Artists can get together and collaborate. They get feedback from the public directly and can talk directly to their fans.

My Major Company, however, is more like a traditional record company. The big difference is that the public are invited to invest in new artists. Shares are on sale for £10 each and you can buy up to 100 shares in any artists you choose. Once the artist raises £100,000 in shares, they are invited to make a record. Shareholders then can earn a return on their investment if the band is successful. I love this business model even more than IAC. Not only do I get to hear up-and-coming artists who might never get heard. I get to express my opinions AND I may even make a small profit (or a large one if I invest in the next U2).

I bought one share in a band called Millers Daughter and have high hopes for them. Not only are they talented musicians, they are also gorgeous blonde twins!!!! Here's hoping they can turn my £10 into a £1 million so I can retire. As of today, they've raised £31,180 towards their first record. I'm sure they'll go all the way.
I'll keep you posted.