Zooming the Wannabes
Have you seen Blogging Zoom? It’s a site similar to Digg or Reggit, but it’s specifically set up for bloggers to promote, among other things, thier own content. It just started a couple of weeks ago, but it’s picking up steam.
I submitted one of my own posts to Blogging Zoom and really didn’t get anywhere with it. It’s all about the title and description. If either are poorly done then too bad, so sad you’re not going to get a lot of traffic. Come to think about it, I’m not sure you’re going to get a whole lot of traffic right now anyway, but that’s not my point.
I really like the site. I like the design and I like a lot of the listings. I’ve been doing a lot of stumbling around the web (my new term for websurfing, by the way, because I really, really like to use my StumbeUpon toolbar) and I’ve found some awesome things to read on Zoom. It’s a huge timewaster for me.
Stumbling then got me thinking that I would like a more personal theme. What if I go ahead and submit something worthwhile to Blogging Zoom, it gets popular, and people can’t get into my theme? I’m very weird about that. So, I spent two whole days looking for the perfect theme I could tweak. I found a really nice one then put it up and BOOM! the coding was wrong. A key background image wasn’t showing up. So, I went through the code, recoded, tried to figure out just what was going wrong. Then I figured it out, but by then I was incredibly bored with the theme, decided the code was just too messy, and threw it out. WTF? I was completely obsessed with this theme and all of the sudden I was done. Anyway, I decided there have to better coded themes that do what I need to be done and aren’t as messy (re: easier to tweak). So I found a few and then realized how much time I’d spent just trying to change something for someone that may or may not pop in occasionally. Allrighty then.
Hopefully I won’t get the theme itch again. Because I really can’t afford to be sitting worrying about these things right now. I would love to create my own theme, but the way my mind works…. Um, ain’t happenin’.
I’ll go stumble around Blogging Zoom again, try to avoid that theme thing, and wish for once there weren’t so many SEO "MAKE MONEY BLOGGING" blogs clogging up everything. If there’s one thing that bugs the hell out of me right now is the amount of blogs that have "make money" in their title. They see a couple of big name bloggers make it work and BAM! they jump on the bandwagon. *YAWN* I’m getting to the point that I just skip over those blogs and their fancy titles and whatever. Honestly, if I want to learn how to make money blogging, seo, etc etc, I’m going to be reading the same blogs these folks are reading. That niche is overcrowded. Too many people jumping on the bandwagon. You know how you eat so many chocolate-covered [insert food here] and pretty soon you can’t stand the sight of chocolate because it makes you nauseous? Yeah, that’s how I’m feeling about making money blogging. No lie.
Luckily, those titles are easy to see and there are a lot more fun things to see on Blogging Zoom. It’s just like eating trail mix. There’s always something in there you don’t like, so you’ve got to pick around to make sure you don’t accidentally get pieces of that thing. There’s always the danger of being suckered, though. Gotta watch out for that. Still, there is no way I’m going to click on one more blog about how to monetize your stuff. The big guys have it covered and I’m wondering if there’s even a place for women at the table. At least not that particular table (the one where you talk all about making money online and how you can achieve greatness) no one takes women seriously in that niche, I think. At least not enough women to make a difference.
Maybe it’s just that women can see nonsense like that and avoid it. 
Yeah, that’s it. Women are too good to be suckered in. Well, most women. There are still one or two that think they can compete in that particular niche. Good luck, ladies. Ha! Please, please do me a favor and don’t clog up the Zoom with your stuff though. Everyone else has already written about [fill in the blank] a thousand times, saying the exact same thing you’re saying. Write about something else. Like t.v.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Sphere: Related ContentDid you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically each day to your feed reader.
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
Zooming the Wannabes | Simply Stating……
This is one of the best BZ post I have had time to read. Especially because you will notice that Lizzie is all over the place and I love her quirky sense of humor.
Lizzie brings some great points not only of BZ but of the Blogging industry in general …
Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
I think I’m confused Lizzie… Is this your old theme or is this a new one? At any rate, I like it. I think it’s a good clean theme that’s easy to read and not all cluttered up with junk.
I enjoyed your article as well. Stick with BloggingZoom. I really think it’s going to take off and you’ll see your share of traffic from it.
And thanks for checking out my site. Your backlink is forthcoming.
Hi, Jason!
This is my new one. I was trying to modify something to be more personable, but I got all crazy about it and ended up breaking it. So, I had to give it a rest.
I really like BloggingZoom. I was put off at first because there seemed to be a little too much self-promotion. That in itself isn’t so bad, but I wasn’t sure if me promoting other articles of interest would take off. I’m glad I was wrong.
Thanks for stopping by! I really appreciate it. And thanks for the compliment. Hopefully you’ll find reason to stop by again sometime.
Hey look, I already have!
I like the comment boxes. Are these coded into the theme? Are the images just random? Pretty nifty.
Welcome back, Jason! I wasn’t expecting a return visit so quickly. I’m slacking a little today with so much family stuff going on.
The images are actually a really nifty plugin- WP MonsterID. I probably should have Gravatar or MyAvatar installed, but I like to be a little different. The boxes are actually coded into the theme. That’s one of the reasons I chose this theme. Just a little something different. The designer did a rockin’ job.
Lizzie:
I really LOVE your new theme. You’ve got one of the few 3 column designs that’s not cluttered. In fact, your design is really easy on the eyes.
And your comments boxes are wonderful! I’ve not seen them anywhere else.
As for the comment on “make money online” blogs and women, I agree wholeheartedly. Except for Ms. Danielle and DoshDosh (I think that’s a woman) there aren’t many females writing about this topic. That’s okay, there are lots of great female writers out there (like you) that provide fantastic blogging tips that in effect help you “make money online.”
Great post.
Chanya’s last blog post..Google Hijacked My Sidebar
Chanya,
Thank you. I didn’t do it, though. It’s by Nathan Rice. He did an excellent job. I looked at changing some things around, but I just can’t bear to do that.
Maki (DoshDosh) is a guy, I believe. And not very old. There are a few women in the niche, but they’re few and far between. I prefer the ladies that show moms how to succeed, like Wendy Piersall. She’s pretty awesome.
Thanks for coming by. I hope you stop by again.
I disagree, I would love to hear your ideas for making money online. There is always room at the table.
James - DigitalKeyToInfo’s last blog post..Courtney Tuttle’s The Ultimate List Of BloggingZoom Reviews
I’m going to parrot what everyone else seems to be saying - the theme looks great. I’m like you, would love to code my own theme, but I’m realistic enough to know that I probably wouldn’t be able to stay focused on it long enough to get it done.
I got involved on BZ in its second week, and it’s brought no end of traffic to my site which launched on the day that I discovered BZ. It’s been great. I do agree about the MMO posts though. It’d be nice if there was a way to filter those out.
Rod Templeton’s last blog post..Using Plug-ins in Windows Live Writer 2008
Hi, James! Thanks for coming by.
I feel like I should clarify a little now, yes? These are observations from an outsider. I’m a blogger first and a money maker… well, I don’t really make any money yet. I’m concentrating on other types of endeavors right now. Still it’s a little disconcerting to me to click on a link thinking a post is going to give me new information and see something not so new. I think, as someone looking in from the outside, that personality will get more attention. Not necessarily a strong personality, but a most certainly a unique one. Everyone has one, but it seems that the SEO niche forgets that.
Does that make sense?
At any rate, when I wrote this post there wasn’t much on BloggingZoom but SEO/SEM type blogs- a lot of which were keyword stuffed, hard to read and lacking personality. I became annoyed and then I had to blog about it.
I mentioned women because I haven’t run across many of them that have made their mark in that niche- there are some really good women in the niche, but not a whole lot. Maybe I haven’t looked hard enough, but I’m pretty sure I don’t have the type of personality to blog just for SEO/SEM.
When I hit the big time, though, you can be sure I’ll blog all about it.
Hi, Rod! Thanks for commenting.
I should really get that threaded comment thing, but alas I like my monsters too much.
As for BZ, I love it. I really do.