Lovely Prizes in Lightening’s Blogworld This Week
Do you like gifts and prizes? I do.
Recently I won a yoga DVD from Healthy Living Lounge. I’ve been wanting to learn more about yoga so I can’t wait until the DVD arrives. Of course, Carole gives me gifts each time she posts. I’m learning heaps and constantly being inspired by posts like 10 Breathing Rejuvenation Tips.
Then this morning I was surprised to read I had won a $20 Amazon gift voucher from Journeyer’s Chronicles.
Thank you to both Carole and Journeyer for your generous giveaways. 
If you’d like to win a prize yourself (and you live in Melbourne or are prepared to go there), you might like to consider Craig Harper’s latest giveaway - 5 sessions with Craig himself. A fabulous opportunity to renovate your life.
Darren Rowse offered his readers a gift of another kind this week when he opened up his blog as a way to promote reader’s social profile pages. If you’re interested in building your Twitter profile, you can find a great list of people to follow here.
Aussie Bloggers celebrated their six month anniversary a gift for it’s readers in The Lazy Bloggers Post Generator.
Meg’s Top 100 Australian Bloggers is like a gift to many bloggers each month. Congratulations especially to these bloggers who debuted in the list this month:
Standout Blogger
Sleevage - Album Cover Blog
Neil Creek - Photographer
I should put my thinking cap on for a giveaway on this blog. I enjoy hosting giveaways as much as I enjoy winning them. Stay tuned.
The Lazy Bloggers Post Generator
To celebrate the 6-month anniversary of Aussie Bloggers Forum and Blog, the Aussie Bloggers team have put together a “Lazy Bloggers Post Generator“.
You can generate numerous different “excuse” posts from it.
Here is an example I put together just for your reading pleasure:
Blimey! I just got a bajillion whiny emails saying I have not updated this since I had to start working to pay the ridiculous food and petrol prices to feed my kids… You would not believe my anguish at my misdoings I prostrate myself in sorrow and beg thy forgiveness..
I am totally exhausted with discovering time doesn’t stand still rock crushing just generally being a hindrance to the taxman, my day is full to overflowing from the second I am woken by murderous Teletubbies to I see my darling’s 10000 text messages. I am convinced that I absolutely deserve this after all my hard work. life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.
I swear on the bones of my ancestors if one more person emails me to ask why I haven’t posted today I will start posting pictures of toe fungus, or fecal murals. You wanna test me? The Piccaninnies say I have to!.
And another to show you how different the results can be:
Holy Snapping Duck Do! I just got slapped with a wet salmon - really - I have not updated this since Hammertime was in the charts… You would not believe that my hands were chopped off and I was waiting for bionic ones Please don’t abandon me!.
I am absolutely consumed with an awfully big adventure learning to fart the theme to neighbours just generally being an embarrassment to my kids, my day is passing in a blur from midday to early afternoon. I am quite the socialite. as well you should know.
I totally promise I will blog about it when I find my way home. Until I need your shoulder to cry on. Assuming I don’t get distracted by counting my chest hairs.
So, head on over, have some fun and post your results on your blog so everyone can have a giggle. And don’t forget to mention how awesome Aussie Bloggers is! 
Using a Feedreader Can Save You Time
Image via WikipediaWhat is a Feedreader?
A feedreader allows you to combine all of the blogs you read into the one webpage. Every time a blog updates with a post, your feedreader collects that posts and shows you those posts all on one page.
How Does a Feedreader Save You Time?
Instead of having to visit each blog whenever you want to find out if a blog has updated (and it may take several visits before you find a new post on some blogs), your feedreader will tell you when a new post has been put up.
Of course, feedreaders aren’t perfect and there are times when a longer than usual delay occurs or the feedreader has trouble picking up some feeds. But for the most part, they are an extremely useful tool when it comes to reading and keeping up with your favourite blogs.
Where Can I Find a Feedreader?
The most commonly mentioned Feedreaders are Google Reader and Bloglines.
I started with Google Reader, had some trouble with it so switched to Bloglines and I’m now in the process of switching back to Google Reader (not that I’m no longer on dial up - for some reason I had trouble with Google Reader freezing on me all the time).
Once you have your feedreader account set up, adding blogs can be as simple as clicking on the RSS icon link on the blog you wish to add. A page should then come up giving you the option of selecting the feedreader you wish to add the blog to. You can also add a blog to your reader by copying and pasting the blog URL into the appropriate section of your reader.
Full Feed vs Partial Feed
From time to time you may come across debates as to whether or not bloggers should allow a full feed vs a partial feed. There are pro’s and con’s on both sides. Personally, as someone who reads a LOT of blogs, I sit in the “full feed” camp.
There are a number of reasons WHY people choose to only offer a partial feed but my opinion is that if you want your readers to feel you value them, offering a full feed is a good way to go.
How Many Blogs Are In Your Feedreader?
For those of you already reading blogs via a feedreader, I’m curious as to how many blogs you have in your reader. Please take a minute to indicate in the poll below:
Loading …If you’ve never used a feedreader before and would like more information about setting one up, please ask. It can be daunting when you first get started but once you’ve used one for a while, you’ll wonder how you ever survived without it!
30 Day Challenge - Will I Be Able To Keep Up?
Image by вαяσσк яε∂вυιι™ ~ υк šσση via FlickrMy children headed back to school this week and I was all set to catch up on the sections of the 30-Day Challenge Preseason that I got behind on over the past couple of weeks.
Two days into the week and I haven’t even started on my planned “catch up”.
All of which is making me rather nervous about how well I’ll manage to keep up once the actual challenge begins.
The good news is that the 30 Day Challenge material stays available a long time after the actual challenge itself has finished.
So if I fall behind during the Challenge then at least I know I can continue to make my way through the material at my own pace after August has wrapped up.
If you’ve not yet signed up for the 30-Day Challenge, it’s not too late. Just having access to the videos and forum is well worth it, even if you don’t feel you can actually participate in the actual “challenge”.
I am planning to blog more of the preseason stuff for those of you who are having trouble getting your connections to work with the videos.
An eclectic mix in Lightening’s Blogworld this week
Image via WikipediaHere’s an eclectic mix of posts that either caught my eye or inspired me this week:
If you’re like many bloggers and find yourself confused about the difference between Categories and Tags then you might find this article by Performancing useful: Categories vs Tags and how to properly utilize them
Make Money Online discusses duplicate content and google.
Chris Garrett had an interesting article on why you should not blog.
I thought this image of a snake massage was scary until I saw this zipper tongue. YUK!!!!
The worlds oldest blogger passed away. Rest in Peace Olive Riley - you have inspired many people and will be remembered for a long time to come.
Flickr Friday - I just wanted to mention this meme as I think it’s fabulous and have been intending to join in (once I can get my head around HOW). Each week has a theme and I love seeing how different bloggers choose different images. This week’s is Winter.
Please don’t think this is an exhaustive list of posts I enjoyed or found worthy of sharing. It’s just a few of the hundreds I’ve waded my way through.
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